Japan, South Korea Find 'Common Ground' in Trade Dispute Talks, Agree to Meet Again

[soryang]

Dec. 15, 2019, at 11:28 p.m.
US News and World Report

BY MAKIKO YAMAZAKI

TOKYO (Reuters) - The first meeting between senior Japanese and South Korean trade officials since Japan imposed controls on exports of high-technology materials to its neighbor ended hours later than scheduled on Monday, with the two saying they had reached "common ground" and agreeing to talk again.

Testy relations between the two U.S. allies sank to a new low in July after Japan imposed the curbs on exports to South Korea of three materials used to make semiconductors, threatening a pillar of its economy and the global supply chain of chips.

Japan cited its concern about insufficient South Korean controls on the materials for the move in July, although the curbs came as relations soured over a dispute over Japan's wartime actions.

Yoichi Iida, director-general at the Japanese trade ministry's trade control department, and his South Korean counterpart Lee Ho-Hyeon, met in Tokyo for the first senior-level bilateral talks in three-and-a-half years.

The two made no comment as they shook hands at the beginning of their meeting, but the talks ran more than three hours over schedule and Japanese trade minister Hiroshi Kajiyama said there was "progress", adding the next dialogue would be held in Seoul in the near future.

More:

https://money.usnews.com/investing/news/articles/2019-12-15/japan-south-korea-meet-over-trade-dispute-but-no-quick-fix-seen


(Source- 닥쳐라정치, 12.15 ) Official trade figures from the Korean Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Resources, and the Korean Trade Conference show in dollars the respective losses in exports from both countries to the other over a four month period. The loss to Japan in exports to Korea was about 24 billion dollars; the loss to South Korea in exports to Japan was about 7 billion dollars (US). While Japan has the significantly larger economy and the relative impact of the losses in foreign earnings is arguable, specific sectors of the Japanese economy such as tourism and food products experienced a direct negative impact from the South Korea consumer boycott.

Japan has typically had a large surplus in its trade with South Korea. Abe's aggressive trade policy toward South Korea has had a negative impact on smaller and mid sized Japanese communities that depend on Korean tourists for business. The Korean semi-conductor industry has had to make expensive adjustments as a result of the export restrictions on strategic materials from Japan. South Korean exports in general have declined since the US trade dispute with China. The decline has been aggravated by the trade dispute with Japan. President Moon Jae-in and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will attend a trilateral summit in Chengdu, China, later this month. It is hoped that a bilateral summit between Moon and Abe will also take place.