성윤모 산업부 장관 "12일 일본 도쿄에서 양자협의 추진 중"
Seoul will likely hold talks with Tokyo this week... over the export restrictions it slapped on high-tech material shipments to South Korea.
That's coming from the nation's trade minister, who once again urged Japan to lift the measures, announcing that Korea will take the matter to a panel meeting at the WTO.
Kim Hyesung has our top story.
South Korea's trade minister said on Tuesday that South Korean and Japanese authorities are working to hold talks in Tokyo regarding Japan's restrictions on high tech materials to Seoul.
"The meeting is currently scheduled for Friday afternoon. We are working on the details of the participants and the agenda. We will continuously call for a removal of the export restrictions, and see why Japan has imposed restrictions and clarify our stance."
The trade minister's repeated calls for Tokyo to lift the export restrictions come after Japan's curbs on high-tech materials, namely fluorine polyimide, photoresist and etching gas, that are used to produce chips and display panels by South Korean companies, went into effect last week.
He added that the government is working closely with Korean companies and the international community by taking the matter to the panel meeting of the WTO Council for Trade in Goods in Geneva on Tuesday local time.
Regarding Tokyo's allegations that Seoul shipped key industrial materials to North Korea that violated UN sanctions, Minister Sung said
"We have conducted investigations on local firms and found no evidence of the transfer of hydrogen fluoride imported from Japan to any U.N.-sanctioned country, including North Korea,"
He said if Tokyo has evidence to support its allegations, it should share detailed information with Korea and related countries as a UN member.
Meanwhile, Japan pushed back against calls from South Korea to lift the export curbs.
Japan's Industry Minister Hiroshige Seko said at a news conference on Tuesday morning he has no plans to withdraw the curbs and that they did not violate WTO rules.
Kim Hyesung, Arirang News.