Seoul axes Tokyo from trusted export list in tit-for-tat move as angry South Koreans wage anti-Abe protests

South Korea is the first country to be dropped from Japan’s list of nations granted minimal constraints on exports of products

Seoul is working to bring the escalating trade row to the World Trade Organisation and has hinted at imposing restrictions on Japanese food imports and trips to Japan

Reading Time:4 minutes

South Korean protesters burn portraits of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe near the Japanese embassy in Seoul. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 5:53pm, 2 Aug 2019Updated: 10:20pm, 2 Aug 2019

In its first tit-for-tat move, South Korea on Friday dropped Japan from its own white list of favoured export partners, after Tokyo downgraded Seoul’s trade status in an escalating trade war.

“We will also remove Japan from the white list and strengthen export controls on goods shipped to Japan,” finance minister Hong Nam-ki said, adding that Seoul was mulling restrictions on Japanese food imports and trips to Japan to “ensure the safety” of South Koreans.

South Korea’s Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki. Photo: AFP

The South Korean government will also step up preparations to bring the trade row, sparked by a dispute over wartime forced labour, to the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Hong said.

The minister said Japan’s strengthened export controls could affect nearly 1,200 items deemed as sensitive, and that Seoul would closely manage and assist the imports of 159 items where South Korean firms are most reliant on Japanese makers.

South Korea’s vice foreign minister Cho Sei-young summoned the Japanese ambassador, telling Yasumasa Nagamine that Japan’s trade measures betrayed a history of bilateral cooperation.

Select Voice

Choose your listening speed

Get through articles 2x faster

1.25x

250 WPM

Slow

Average

Fast

00:0000:00

1.25x