Korea to halt WTO dispute settlement process on Japan's export curbs: industry ministry

• Published date: 06 March 2023
• Publication title: The Korea Times

Korea has decided to halt a process of its complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO) on Japan's export controls of key industry materials to Seoul as they prepare to launch official talks on the lifting of the restrictive measures, Seoul's industry ministry said Monday.

In 2019, Tokyo imposed export controls on three major industrial materials to Seoul, which are essential for chips and displays, and officially removed Korea from its list of nations given preferential treatment in trade in apparent retaliation for the Korean Supreme Court's ruling the previous year that ordered Japanese companies to pay compensation to Korean forced labor victims.

In response to the export controls, Korea filed a complaint with the WTO over the trade dispute, claiming it is a discriminatory act that violates its rules.

"The two nations agreed to swiftly conduct bilateral consultations on export control issues to bring the situation back to July 2019. The Korean government decided to halt the WTO trade dispute settlement procedures while related consultations proceeds," The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said in a release.

The two sides will hold a policy consultation meeting on bilateral exports "soon," it added.

The announcement came just after the Korean government vowed to create a foundation in charge of collecting public donations and compensating victims of Japan's forced labor during its 1910-45 colonial rule of Korea in an effort to resolve the long-running feud between the two neighbors and to improve frayed ties.

But the ministry made it clear Monday's announcement does not mean that Korea will withdraw the complaint and any decision on the possible withdrawal would be made in line with the developments of bilateral consultations.

It is not the first time that the two sides suspended the WTO dispute settlement procedures regarding the export curbs...