Japan's Restoration of South Korea's White List May Take More Time
The government will reinstate Japan on the "white list" (a list of countries granted simplified export procedures) starting from the 24th. This comes about 3 years and 7 months after Japan was removed from the white list in response to Japan's unilateral export restrictions in September 2019.
According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy on the 21st, the government plans to publish a notice in the official gazette on the 24th to include Japan on the white list in the strategic goods export-import notification. Previously, the government had announced the draft revision of the related notification for administrative notice. Following the recent summit that marked a recovery phase in Korea-Japan relations, Korea has taken the lead in completing the procedure to restore the white list.
With this measure, discussions to normalize economic cooperation between the two countries are expected to intensify. Prior to restoring the white list, the government withdrew its World Trade Organization (WTO) complaint against Japan's export restrictions on the 16th of last month.
However, it is expected to take more time for the Japanese government to restore Korea to its white list. This is because Japan must go through a cabinet meeting, which is a cross-government consultation, to reinstate Korea as a white list country.
Currently, Korea and Japan are conducting working-level consultations regarding the restoration of the white list and related matters.
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