일본 수출규제, WTO 최고 결정기구서 논의…‘국제적 공론화’

At South Korea's request, the WTO will discuss Japan's export curbs.
It is now a formal agenda at the organization's upcoming general council meeting.
Kim Hye-sung explains what this means.
The WTO's highest decision-making body is set to discuss Japan's export restrictions on high-tech materials to South Korea.
Seoul's trade ministry said Sunday that Tokyo's restrictions have been taken up as one of the formal agenda at the WTO's general council meeting on July 23rd and 24th in Geneva.
Seoul had requested that the WTO take up the issue last week.
"We believe that there will be opportunities at the WTO or other multilateral, bilateral settings to raise the issue of Japan's export curbs and make clear Korea's stance."
All ambassadors of the WTO's 164 member countries will take part in the General Council meeting, which is the WTO's top decision-making body aside from the ministerial conferences that take place every two years.
Seoul is expected to call on Tokyo to lift the export curbs, criticizing them as economic retaliation that negatively affects the global value chain,... a stance it made clear earlier last week at the WTO Council for Trade in Goods.
"This move doesn't mean Korea is officially suing Japan over its export curbs. The WTO General Council discusses agenda of signifance as the highest decision-making body, so it means the WTO is taking Japan's trade restrictions seriously. This will be a key opportunity for South Korea to rally global opinion that Japan's export curbs are unfair and go against free trade rules."
Tokyo is expected to reiterate its stance that it imposed the restrictions because of "inadequate management" of sensitive items from South Korea and weak export controls.
A clash at the WTO is expected,... and it comes at a critical time when Japan is set to decide by July 24th whether to remove South Korea from its "whitelist" of countries that enjoy preferential treatment on trade.
Kim Hyesung, Arirang News.