South Korea has decided to resume dispute settlement procedures with the World Trade Organization (WTO) over Japan’s export curbs against it, saying that Tokyo has failed to join efforts to settle the issue.

Na Seung-sik, head of international trade and investment at Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, said in a briefing on Tuesday that the Japanese government has not shown commitment to resolving the issue, and “no progress” has been made in terms of discussion, which was a prerequisite to the suspension of the dispute settlement complaint with the WTO.

Korea plans to reopen dispute settlement proceedings with the WTO over Japan’s export controls of three high-tech materials that were temporarily suspended on Nov. 22. It will request the WTO to set up a dispute settlement panel for further action.

The Korean trade ministry last month asked Japan to come up with a concrete position by the end of May with regard to its decision to exclude Korea from the “whitelist” of preferred trade partners and impose tougher export curbs on three key high-tech materials shipped to Korea, saying that Korea has taken steps to address Japan’s concerns about its neighboring country’s export management systems including insufficient catch-all control on conventional weapons.

Japan, however, has not given a clear response, the ministry said.

In July last year, Tokyo toughened export controls against Korea on the three key materials used to make semiconductors and displays – extreme ultraviolet-use photoresist, fluorinated polyimide, and hydrogen fluoride. It also dropped Korea off its whitelist of trusted trading partners in August, which acknowledge simplified approval procedure.

Seoul at that time criticized that Tokyo’s decision was in retaliation for Korean court rulings ordering Japanese firms to make compensations to Korean victims for forced labor during the colonial period, which the Japanese government denied.

By Pulse

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