Moon warns Japan’s export curbs will cause more damage to its economy

Jul 16, 2019, 09:15 am

		0
President Moon Jae-in warned that the Japanese economy will suffer bigger damage in the end from export curbs against South Korea in a weekly meeting with his senior Cheong Wa Dae aides on July 15, 2019./ Source: Yonhap News

By AsiaToday reporter Lee Seok-jong

President Moon Jae-in warned on Monday that the Japanese economy will suffer bigger damage in the end from export curbs against South Korea. The South Korean president also urged Tokyo to retract its unilateral pressure and return to the diplomatic resolution.

In a weekly meeting with his senior Cheong Wa Dae aides, Moon said that Japan’s export restrictions “destroy the framework of South Korea-Japan economic cooperation revolving around mutual dependence and co-prosperity, which has accumulated over half a century.”

“Japan’s export restrictions are different in nature from conventional protective trade measures aimed at guarding domestic industries. That’s the very reason why we are taking the Japanese government’s export restriction measure seriously,” Moon said.

In the meantime, the president said, “It is important to note that the Japanese government’s measure has started with export restrictions on semiconductor materials, which are core competitiveness of the South Korean economy. It is tantamount to seeking to block the growth of South Korea’s economy at a time when it’s seeking to take one step further.”

“It it’s what Japan wants, it will never succeed,” Moon said, while stressing that South Korean people will again overcome the current trouble from Japan’s measure, as they did with a number of previous difficulties with their “united power.”

“South Korean firms will lose confidence in partnerships with Japan and decide to diversify the supply route of necessary materials or localize related production,” he said.

Regarding Japan’s accusation that South Korea is leaking sensitive industrial materials to the North in violation of sanctions in an attempt to justify the export restrictions against the South, Moon made it clear that Soul is “faithfully complying with major international export control rules and the U.N. Security Council resolutions” and called the allegation “a grave challenge to the South Korean government, which is making all-out efforts for improved inter-Korean relations and peace on the peninsula.”

#Moon Jae-in #warning #Japan #export curbs