Japan "Korea, Reinstated on White List"... Export Restrictions Lifted After 4 Years

Approval of the Cabinet on the Amendment to the Export Trade Control Order
Easing of Import Requirements for Strategic Goods

The Japanese government has reinstated South Korea on its whitelist. This resolves the export restrictions imposed by Japan since July 2019 after four years.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced on the 27th that the Japanese government approved a revision at the Cabinet meeting to add South Korea to Group A (Annex 3 of the Japanese Export Trade Control Order), commonly known as the whitelist.

Since the joint message on export restrictions issued on March 6, both countries have held intensive 9th (March 14?16) and 10th (April 10?25) export control policy dialogues. Earlier in March this year, Japan lifted export restrictions on three items to South Korea: hydrogen fluoride, fluorinated polyimide, and photoresist.

With South Korea’s reinstatement on Japan’s whitelist, 'general comprehensive licenses' are now available for exporting strategic materials from Japan to South Korea. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy expects this easing of application qualifications and requirements to benefit companies in both countries.

An official from the Ministry said, "Since the South Korean president’s visit to Japan in March, which laid the groundwork for restoring trust between the two countries, our proactive measures to restore the whitelist status and the in-depth policy dialogues between the Ministry and Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry have fully restored mutual trust in export controls. Going forward, based on this foundation, we plan to closely cooperate with Japan on various bilateral and multilateral export control issues."

(Photo) [Image source=Yonhap News]

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