Presidential Office: "Government to Monitor Japan's Moves After Restoring Whitelist"

Distortion of Japanese Textbooks Will Be Addressed by the Ministry of Education

On the 27th, unlike the South Korean government which began the restoration process immediately after the Korea-Japan summit, the Presidential Office stated that it will "watch Japan's movements" regarding Japan's final decision on whether to restore South Korea to its whitelist.

A senior official from the Presidential Office responded to reporters at the Yongsan Presidential Office in the afternoon, when asked how they evaluate Japan's stance on whitelist restoration, saying, "We will first take the measures we can, and then observe a little more to see what actions Japan will take."

The government announced the draft amendment to the strategic goods export-import notification for Japan's whitelist restoration procedure on the 23rd. The public notice period lasts until the 12th of next month. Considering that South Korea's whitelist can be amended immediately after public notice through the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy's notification, it is expected that the procedure will take about a month to complete.

On the other hand, Japan has not yet started the whitelist restoration procedure. Moreover, Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Yasutoshi Nishimura stated in an interview with local media, "We want to thoroughly verify the effectiveness of South Korea's export control system and its operational status across a wide range of about 1,000 items," indicating that Japan will make a decision after closely monitoring South Korea's restoration process, which has led to criticism of hasty diplomacy.

Regarding Japan's publication of elementary school textbooks that list Dokdo as its territory and omit the word "forced" from "forced labor" during the Japanese colonial period, the official avoided direct comments, saying, "The relevant department will respond."

A senior government official also told reporters on the same day, "We need to see the announcement tomorrow before commenting. I think this is not something to be overly sensitive about," adding, "If there is a significant change, we will naturally raise the issue. If the position is consistent with what has been maintained over the past decade, we will have no choice but to respond based on precedent."