Article by: Miku Kudo

Japan withdraws tougher export controls on South Korea; South Korea withdraws WTO complaint

South Korea's Ministry of Industry, Trade and Natural Resources announced on April 16 that Japan has agreed to withdraw the stricter export control measures it introduced in 2019 against South Korea for some technology-related items. The dispute settlement procedure that had been filed with the World Trade Organization (WTO) over the issue was withdrawn.

Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) similarly confirmed the effectiveness of the system and operation of the export control authorities in South Korea, and on the grounds that improvements had been made, it decided to switch from individual export licenses to comprehensive export licenses for three semiconductor materials: fluorinated polyimide, resist, and hydrogen fluoride.

In a briefing to reporters, an METI official said that the timeline for the export control review for the three items would be "done at an appropriate time," but that no specific date had been set.

Meanwhile, the dialogue will continue on the handling of country categories to which preferential measures, such as simplified procedures, are applied in export control for security purposes. The executive explained that the three items were reviewed and that the country categories have different requirements for changing the rules.