Amid trade tensions between Seoul and Tokyo, the vice chairman of Samsung Electronics Lee Jae-young has gone to Japan.
Although the firm is tightlipped about the details,... Japanese news outlets are hinting about what Lee might be up to.
Our Ko Roon-hee reports.
Japan's Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported on Monday that Lee Jae-yong, the vice chairman of Samsung Electronics, is expected to request Japanese executives to ship high-tech materials not from Japan, but from factories overseas to avoid trade restrictions.

Lee arrived in Japan on Sunday... and his trip comes after Tokyo's new export restrictions against Seoul on high-tech materials used for making chips and displays took effect last week.

The Japanese newspaper said that Vice Chairman Lee's expected move is to minimize the negative impact on chip production... and added that Lee is likely to discuss other possible countermeasures with business partners in Japan.

NHK also covered the news..., and mentioned South Korean President Moon Jae-in's meeting on Wednesday with heads of major corporations threatened by the export restrictions.

Samsung Electronics did not provide the details of Lee's trip... and South Korean news outlets are reporting that everything is top secret... considering that firms are caught in the middle of diplomatic issue between Seoul and Tokyo.

Analysts say, Lee's quick move reflects how the restrictions will hurt Korean firms in the long run... citing Korea's dependence on chip material imports from Japan.
One example is the case of photoresists, or light-sensitive materials that are used in chip manufacturing.
During the first five months of this year, more than 90-percent of Korea's total imports of the material came from Japan.
Ko Roon-hee, Arirang News.