JAPAN'S EXPORT CURBS AT WTO

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The World Trade Organization will discuss Japan's export curbs against South Korea at its General Council meeting. A South Korean trade official arrived in Geneva Monday to attend the council meeting, and to protest Japan's trade restrictions. Arriving at the airport, the official told reporters that he will refute Japan's claims with “sternness and dignity", at the two-day meeting.

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​​Kim Seung-ho, deputy minister for multilateral and legal affairs at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, arrived in Geneva, Switzerland. He is South Korea's chief delegate to a WTO General Council meeting which begins on July 23. Usually, the ambassador to Geneva represented Seoul at these meetings. However, the government dispatched a high-level trade official to the upcoming session, considering the significance of the situation.

[Soundbite] KIM SEUNG-HO(DEPUTY TRADE MINISTER FOR MULTILATERAL AND LEGAL AFFAIRS) : "I will refute Japan's claim sternly and rationally. I will highlight the measures' unfairness and explain why it's a serious issue in plain and easy words."

The South Korean delegation will refute Japan's trade restrictions at the two-day meeting, which will be attended by 164 member nations. Seoul will highlight that Tokyo's export controls are in violation of WTO agreements. It will then call on Japan to quickly withdraw such unfair measures. The representative for Japan is Shingo Yamagami, director-general of their Foreign Ministry’s economic affairs bureau. The Japanese trade restrictions will be the eleventh issue to be discussed at the WTO meeting, which will deal with 14 topics in total. The delegates of the two sides are expected to confront each other head-on, as the South Korean government is preparing to take the issue to the WTO's dispute settlement body. The council meeting will not make an immediate decision on the export curbs. Meanwhile, the Japanese government is taking steps to remove South Korea from its whitelist, a preferential export processing system for strategic items. Tokyo will collect public opinions on the move until July 24. The South Korean government plans to send a letter of protest to Japan, calling the whitelist exclusion unfair.