Posted on : Jul.15,2019 17:44 KST Modified on : Jul.15,2019 17:50 KST

On July 13, Chun Chan-su (left), head of the trade and security division at South Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy, and Han Cheol-hee, head of the Northeast Asian trade division, clarify the positions they expressed in their working-level talks with their Japanese counterparts regarding Japan’s recent export controls on South Korea in Tokyo. (Yonhap News)

Seoul refutes Tokyo’s remarks by announcing its opposition to export controls

After the Japanese said that South Koreans hadn’t protest Japan’s restrictions on the exports of strategic materials in a working-level meeting between the two countries on July 12, the South Korean government criticized Japan for making what it described as an incorrect claim. Japanese officials held a press conference of their own in which they clarified that South Korea had “called for a solution to the problem but hadn’t issued a protest.” Even closed-door technical discussions appear to be provoking a bristling and irritated response from the two countries.

Chun Chan-su, head of the trade and security division at South Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy, and Han Cheol-hee, head of the Northeast Asian trade division at the same ministry, rebutted Japan’s claims in an emergency press conference held at Haneda Airport, in Tokyo, on July 13. Chun and Han had attended working-level talks between section head-level officials from the two countries that were held at Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry, also in Tokyo, on July 12. Shortly after the meeting, a Ministry official had told reporters that the South Koreans hadn’t requested the retraction of Japan’s measures during the meeting. This official also said that both sides had confirmed that this meeting didn’t constitute deliberations but was designed to get the facts straight.

“We expressed our regret about Japan’s measures and asked for a return to the status quo, or in other words, for the measures to be withdrawn,” Han said.

When asked about the nature of the meeting, Chun said, “While the Japanese have said that the South Korean government agreed for this meeting to be a mere briefing, that’s contrary to the facts. The South Korean government holds the viewpoint that, since yesterday’s meeting was designed to resolve the problem, it’s more appropriate to regard it as deliberations.”

Chun continued: “Japan claimed that the South Korean government understands that Japan’s measures are legitimate, don’t violate WTO rules, and aren’t made in protest [of the Supreme Court’s ruling about compensation for victims of forced labor], but we clearly stated our position that those measures are unacceptable, intolerable, and incomprehensible.”

“During the very meeting that [Japan] says was a ‘mere briefing,’ we confronted Japan about its unwillingness to resolve a situation that’s having a negative impact not only on the two countries’ industrial systems but also on the global supply chain.”

Two Japanese officials who attended the same meeting — Jun Iwamatsu, head of the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry’s trade control policy division, and Katsuro Igari, director of the Ministry’s security export control division office — also held an emergency press conference on Sunday evening. “We have reviewed the minutes of the meeting once again, but there were no clear remarks [by the South Koreans] asking for a retraction,” Iwamatsu said.

Iwamatsu also said that the South Koreans had expressed their disagreement with Japan’s claim that its actions aren’t in violation of WTO agreements but hadn’t provided any substantiating evidence. He also said that Japan had protested to South Korea’s embassy in Japan because the South Korean officials had “made remarks that went beyond the two countries’ agreement to keep the content of the meeting private.” The Japanese official also noted that the South Koreans had requested holding another meeting by July 24 but that no decision had been made about whether to do so, suggesting that Japan is leaning against it.

By Cho Ki-weon, Tokyo correspondent

Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]

original
related stories
  • 오피니언

multimedia

most viewed articles

hot issue