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South Korea and Japan agreed Friday to work more closely together on a wider range of multilateral trade issues based on a recent thaw in the bilateral ties, Seoul’s industry ministry said.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol (L) and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida shake hands during a summit in Hiroshima, Japan, in this file photo taken May 21, 2023. (Yonhap)
The agreement was made during a meeting between South Korea’s Trade minister Ahn Duk-geun and Hirai Hirohide, vice minister for international affairs at Japan’s trade ministry, in Seoul, following Japan’s decision to redesignate South Korea as a “Group A” nation, or a white-listed country of trusted trading partners, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.
The revised ordinance for the reinstatement was promulgated Friday and will come into force July 21.
During the meeting, the two sides agreed to continue close consultations to boost bilateral ties in the steel, energy and advanced fields, as well as the overall economy.
They also vowed to explore ways to join hands in global trade and economic terms, including issues related to the US-led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) and the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
Both South Korea and Japan are member nations of the IPEF, which was launched by US President Joe Biden in May 2022 in a move to counter China’s growing influence in the region. Negotiations are under way to set the details of the initiative.
“Trust between the two nations in the export control field is now fully recovered. South Korea and Japan will be able to expedite the implementation of follow-up measures agreed upon during recent summit talks,” Ahn said.
In 2019, Tokyo downgraded South Korea to “Group B” after imposing export restrictions on three key industry materials in apparent retaliation against the South Korean Supreme Court rulings the previous year that ordered two Japanese companies to pay compensation to Korean forced labour victims during Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.
But the two sides vowed the reinstatement earlier this year after South Korea announced plans to compensate the victims without asking Japan for contributions.
Japan lifted the export curbs on Seoul in March after South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida agreed to make joint efforts to improve bilateral ties, and South Korea put Japan back on its white list the following month.
https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20230630005051320
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