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The Blue House
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Japanese senior official alleged that chemicals could potentially make their way into North
On July 8, the Blue House rebutted Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s claim that issues with South Korea’s implementation of sanctions on North Korea were behind Japan’s imposition of export controls on South Korea. “We’re faithfully implementing sanctions resolutions on North Korea in cooperation with the international community,” a Blue House official said. This rebuttal was offered by a senior official at the Blue House during a meeting with reporters on Monday. “The high-ranking Japanese official ought to be able to prove the allegations he made,” the Blue House official added. While being interviewed by Fuji TV on Sunday, Abe cited the occurrence of “inappropriate issues” as the reason for tightening restrictions on exports of materials that South Korean companies need to manufacture semiconductors and displays. The Japanese prime minister also suggested that South Korea needs to do a better job at complying with sanctions on North Korea. On July 5, Koichi Hagiuda, the acting secretary-general of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, said it was “no longer possible to ascertain the final destination” of chemicals and that “there are concerns that materials that could be exploited for military purposes could make their way into North Korea.” “It’s unreasonable for [the Japanese] to expect us to go looking for alleged issues without clearly explaining what those issues are,” the senior official at the Blue House went on to say. Another high-ranking official at the Blue House also addressed this issue. “North Korea is completely constrained within the bounds of international sanctions and has even expressed its frustration that we’re too cautious about this issue. Prime Minister Abe’s remarks are fundamentally absurd.” By Seong Yeon-cheol, staff reporter Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]
