Korea also to exclude Japan from whitelist

Deputy Prime Minister Hong Nam-ki, center, speaks during a press conference at the Government Complex in Seoul, Friday. Hong said Korea will remove Japan from its “whitelist” of countries with preferential trade status, in a response to Tokyo’s decision to exclude Seoul from its whitelist earlier Friday / Yonhap

By Jhoo Dong-chan

The government said Friday it is reviewing its plan to remove Japan from its own “whitelist” of countries given preferential trading benefits as a retaliatory measure following the Tokyo’s decision to delist Korea from its whitelist.

Related agencies, including the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the Financial Services Commission, immediately convened an emergency joint meeting at the Government Complex in Seoul to discuss possible countermeasures after the Japanese Cabinet announced its decision to delist Korea.

Deputy Minister Hong Nam-ki immediately condemned Tokyo's decision during a press conference held after the meeting.

“The Japanese government's decision to delist Korea from its whitelist will jeopardize the trust and cooperative relationship that the two countries have worked on for decades,” Hong said.

“The Korean government has taken a two-track approach to settle the two countries' historic issues and other diplomatic matters separately.”

Hong also implied the government is considering its own retaliatory measure against Japan.

“The government will do its best to settle the issues with the Japanese government. However, we will also delist Japan from our own whitelist as a countermeasure if Tokyo continues curbing its exports of major semiconductor-production materials and pushes ahead with its plan to remove Korea from its whitelist,” he added.

“We will come up with detailed measures about our own retaliatory measures by next week.”

The Ministry of Economy and Finance said it has fully prepared for Japan's export curbs and the removal from the whitelist.

“A total of 1,194 items are expected to be affected directly and indirectly by the Japan's decision. Taking into consideration alternative import and export sources, only about 159 items produced in Japan are affected by the country's measure,” Hong said.

“We will designate firms affected by the 159 items and closely consult with them to overcome difficulties they are confronted with. We believe what really matters here is to provide correct information regarding the Japanese government's pressure. The government has opened a new webpage to give people the related information starting from today.”

The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) also held an emergency meeting separately from the joint government meeting to study any possible impact on the nation's financial sector.

“The FSS is in talks with not only other government agencies but also firms over possible impacts,” said FSS Governor Yoon Suk-heun.

“We are closely monitoring Japanese financial firms and their fund flows into the country.”