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| Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Sung Yun-mo enters a briefing room at the Government Complex in Seoul on July 24. Yonhap |
By Nam Hyun-woo
The government is holding a series of briefing sessions for businesses feared to be affected by Japan's move to remove Korea from its "whitelist" of countries receiving preferential trade treatment, but companies say the efforts are "unhelpful and belated," according to industry officials Wednesday.
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy has been holding a series of briefing sessions to deliver information to related ministries on the whitelist removal. The briefings started Monday with a session for the semiconductor and display industries, and covered the shipbuilding, machinery and auto parts industries until Wednesday. It will run until Aug. 9 to meet officials from petrochemical, electronic devices, fiber, steelmaking and drone industries.
Officials at the companies, however, said they don't think the session provided information useful for them to prepare for the imminent aftermath of the whitelist removal.
"Since the removal is expected to take effect in a short period of time, we didn't expect too much from the session," an official at a shipbuilder said.
"And the session ended up providing information on the whitelist system, which is mostly available through media reports or other channels.
"Like companies, the government also seems to have no detailed or immediate measures to counter Japan's move."
Japan is expected to announce Korea's removal from the whitelist on Aug. 2. Following several administrative processes, it will likely take effect at the end of next month, making customs clearance and other export processes for at least 1,100 items heading to Korea much tougher.
According to officials, the sessions were mostly about the whitelist system, and ways to find which item is restricted in case the removal takes effect. Other than that, no information was provided on how each industry can cope with the restrictions and how the government can help their efforts.
"The delisting means existing preferences will be removed, meaning companies will not be able to know what will happen in the process of importing Japanese goods," another industry official said. "Since the session did not explain how companies can bypass them or how the government can support companies, there seems to be no big difference for companies before and after the session."
Aerospace industry officials said the session was just about sharing existing information and they didn't find anything "special" for the industry to use.
Reportedly, the government is preparing tax cuts for companies which are expected to be affected by the whitelist removal and plans for localizing items which heavily rely on Japanese imports. Those measures are expected to be announced after Japan officially announces that it has removed Korea from the whitelist.
"Localization of industrial materials requires a long period of time and it was supposed to be done before Japan launches the trade restrictions," a conglomerate official said. "Reiterating known information or coming up with a long-term plan just before the trade restrictions are to begin have no effect in addressing an imminent threat."
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