South Korea announced to move Japan to a newly created export category, away from the so fast-tack trade “white list”, starting September. It’s an expected tit-for-tat move in response to Japan’s measures on South Korea. In short, companies exporting strategic materials and products to Japan are required to submit five documents — up from three — with the process taking up to 15 days, as opposed to the current five.
At this point, Japan is the only country in the category. Industry Minister Sung Yun-mo said, “since it’s hard to work closely with a country that frequently violates the basic rules… we need an export control system that addresses this,” Sung also said, “we are pushing for this regulation revision according to our own examinations… we are doing this legitimately in line with both domestic and international laws.”
