Japan-South Korea feud deepens

[soryang]

Japan-South Korea feud deepens with disputed accounts of trade meeting
Hyunjoo Jin, Kiyoshi Takenaka Reuters

SEOUL/TOKYO (Reuters) - A row between Japan and South Korea escalated on Saturday, with contested accounts of a frosty meeting the day before that had failed to make progress on a dispute that could threaten global supplies of microchips and smartphone displays.

Tokyo lodged a protest against Seoul, saying it had broken an agreement on what the two sides would disclose from the Friday discussions on Japan’s curbs of exports to Korea of some materials used to make high-tech equipment, said Japanese trade ministry official Jun Iwamatsu.

Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) also disputed a Korean official’s statement that Seoul had asked Japan on Friday to withdraw the restrictions...

...Friday’s talks began with two negotiators from each side facing off in stony silence in a small meeting room, without greeting each other and with the Japanese officials not standing or bowing when their Korean counterparts entered.

A Japanese official later explained that the bureaucrats had earlier met and exchanged greetings. South Korean media, however, reported there was a “cold reception” for their officials, and that the meeting took place in a room that looked like a “garage”.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-southkorea-japan-laborers/japan-south-korea-feud-deepens-with-disputed-accounts-of-trade-meeting-idUSKCN1U8084

Everything Abe has arranged over the last few weeks has been a calculated insult to South Korea. The withdrawal from "white list" of preferred trade status countries for South Korea is scheduled to be implemented on August 15, Korean Independence Day, the day it was liberated from Japanese colonial rule by the United States. South Korea has offered to negotiate with Japan to mitigate the impact of lawsuits against Japanese corporations operating in South Korea with a legacy of wartime slave labor. Why wouldn't South Korea present a request to withdraw the proposed burdensome trade license requirements recently begun against businesses exporting computer related materials to South Korea? The contention that they didn't is absurd.

Why isn't Japan interested in having a third party international body investigate its allegations that South Korean compliance mechanisms to prevent conversion of strategic materials to North Korea are inadequate? The truth is that Japan's allegations are largely unsupported. Even a conservative US expert observer of Korean affairs, Scott Snyder said on VOA today that Japan has a "perception problem" with respect to this issue.

Abe's motivation is to foster his nationalistic LDP party this election season in Japan with xenophobic redbaiting against South Korea. While his views seem to be garnering popular support, the Japanese media are not entirely onboard. His other goal is to inflict heavy political damage on the administration of Moon Jae In which doesn't dance to the previously dominant conservative tune of pro-Japan politics characteristic of prior South Korean dictatorships. While the US refrains from taking sides in the "trade dispute" which began with Japan's unilateral action, (sharing characteristics of Trump's style of foreign policy), it is neglecting the damage that will be caused to international trade, our alliances, and political stability and security in northeast Asia. Meanwhile, the Trump administration appears to be using the situation to inveigle greater military support from both South Korea and Japan for its unwise policies toward Iran.