Japan OKs 1st shipment of liquid hydrogen fluoride to South Korea amid restrictions
Semiconductor wafers are displayed at Samsung D'light in Seoul's Seocho District. News1
Japan has approved the first shipment of liquid hydrogen fluoride ― one of the key materials under export restrictions to South Korean companies ― to the country since it tightened controls in July, industry sources said Saturday.
Tokyo imposed tighter regulations on exports to Seoul of materials critical for the production of semiconductors and flexible displays.
Under the new rules, Japanese companies are required to apply for individual licenses for each batch of materials exported to South Korean firms, a process that can take up to 90 days.
Other materials crucial in chipmaking and screen production ― fluorinated polyimide, etching gas and photoresist ― earned approval for export in August and September.
Experts say the latest approval appears to be a veiled attempt to make its case that its restrictions do not run counter to international trade norms under the World Trade Organization.
Seoul has claimed the measures were a discriminatory act directly targeting it in apparent retaliation to last year's South Korean Supreme Court rulings ordering Japanese firms to compensate South Korean victims of forced labor during Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula. (Yonhap)