TOKYO: Japan will end export controls on materials for semiconductors destined for South Korea, and Seoul will withdraw a complaint filed with the World Trade Organization, the countries announced on Thursday.
Trade ministries from the two sides made the announcement as South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol arrived in Tokyo for a summit with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kidshida, intended to rebuild ties between the two neighbours.
Yoon said he looked forward to opening a “new chapter” in relations, just hours after North Korea rattled its neighbours again by firing a long-range ballistic missile.
Tense relations between Japan and South Korea reached a nadir in 2018 after a South Korean court ordered Japanese firms to compensate victims of wartime forced labour and their families.
Japan’s trade ministry said in a statement it had decided to lift the curbs and return to the “special general blanket permit … as was the case prior to July 2019”.
“We confirmed that the Korean side will announce the withdrawal of a petition to the WTO regarding Japan’s export controls,” it said, a provision that was confirmed by the trade ministry in Seoul.
Japan rejected the 2018 South Korean court ruling, arguing that colonial-era disputes were settled in 1965. Diplomatic ties were normalised that year and Tokyo gave Seoul loans and economic aid worth some $800 million, the equivalent of several billion dollars now.
The two sides subsequently imposed tit-for-tat trade measures and halted cooperation on several fronts as ties frayed.
South Koreans also mounted a widespread boycott of Japanese goods, including beer, cosmetic products and cars.
Yoon is visiting Japan after announcing a plan to compensate victims of forced labour through a foundation, without any direct involvement by Tokyo.
The rapprochement between the Asian neighbours has been welcomed internationally but the forced-labour compensation deal has spurred opposition inside South Korea.
In the face of the North Korean nuclear and missile threats, Yoon and Kishida are also likely to agree to the restart of bilateral security talks involving foreign and defence ministry officials, sources in Tokyo said. Such talks were last held in 2018.
Earlier Thursday, Pyongyang fired what appeared to be an intercontinental ballistic missile, in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions that have imposed economic sanctions on the country.
The ballistic missile is believed to have fallen outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone in the Sea of Japan.
As part of efforts to increase bilateral cooperation, Kishida and Yoon may agree to set up an economic security dialogue that would allow both countries to discuss ways to bolster semiconductor supply chains, to help meet the challenge of a global chip shortage, the sources said.
In a meeting on Thursday with South Koreans living in Tokyo, Yoon emphasised the importance of both nations working together going forward, and expressed hope that they will play a significant role in building “future-oriented” bilateral ties.
The last time a South Korean president made a trip to Japan was in June 2019 for the Group of 20 summit in Osaka. Then South Korean President Moon Jae In, however, did not hold talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.