Fellow Asian countries support South Korea in its trade dispute with Japan
- 5 years ago
이웃 국가들 한일 수출 규제 갈등에 자유 무역에 대한 지지 표명
Down in Thailand,... South Korean foreign minister Kang Kyung-wha is taking part in the ASEAN plus three foreign ministers meeting along with her Japanese and Chinese counterparts... and Japan's move on the trade whitelist has been making waves there too.
Our foreign affairs correspondent Lee Ji-won is in Bangkok, and she joins us now.
Ji-won, what's the latest?
Devin. At this morning's ASEAN Plus three meeting, we hear that a number of countries showed their support for South Korea and for free trade in the region, regarding Japan's unfair trade restrictions on Seoul.
Firstly, in her opening remarks, Minister Kang emphasized the need for countries to strengthen free and fair trade in the region, amid the gloomy forecast over the global economy.
She then turned everyone's attention to Japan's new trade restrictions this morning. Take a listen.
"I am compelled to draw your attention to the decision made by Japan just this morning to remove my country from its list of trading partners that receive comprehensive export preferential treatment and this in a very unilateral, arbitrary manner. We are gravely concerned by this decision to say the least with this coming in particular in the footsteps of an earlier decision that restricts some key export items to Korea."
She added that countries should not be deterred in their collective effort to expand free, fair and non-discriminatory trade in the region.
However, Japan's Foreign Minister Taro Kono... described Kang's complaint as "groundless".
"I don't know what is the source of complaint by Foreign Minister Kang. Maintaining effective export control over sensitive goods and technology from a security perspective is Japan's responsibility as a member of the international community. Japan's necessary and legitimate review of its export control is fully compatible with free trade regime, including the WTO agreement and the relevant rules. You all know that that's why we have not got any complaints from ASEAN countries."
But in fact,... that didn't seem to be the case. When the floor was opened for each minister to read out their prepared speeches which were mostly unrelated to Seoul and Tokyo's trade disputes, Singapore's foreign minister Vivian Balakrishnan put aside his speech and said that he would give an honest opinion on the issue.
He said that none of the ASEAN members seem to be included in the whitelist,... and that Japan shouldn't be taking out countries, but rather expanding the list to build trust and dependence on each other for the region's co-prosperity.
And soon after, Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi backed this up,... saying that the East Asian countries are one family and that he regrets these issues occurred.
Wang Yi then said such issues need to be resolved with trust and goodwill.
Feeling isolated, Kono replied to these comments,... saying that Japan's three ongoing issues with South Korea are not relevant to one another,... namely Seoul's impo
Down in Thailand,... South Korean foreign minister Kang Kyung-wha is taking part in the ASEAN plus three foreign ministers meeting along with her Japanese and Chinese counterparts... and Japan's move on the trade whitelist has been making waves there too.
Our foreign affairs correspondent Lee Ji-won is in Bangkok, and she joins us now.
Ji-won, what's the latest?
Devin. At this morning's ASEAN Plus three meeting, we hear that a number of countries showed their support for South Korea and for free trade in the region, regarding Japan's unfair trade restrictions on Seoul.
Firstly, in her opening remarks, Minister Kang emphasized the need for countries to strengthen free and fair trade in the region, amid the gloomy forecast over the global economy.
She then turned everyone's attention to Japan's new trade restrictions this morning. Take a listen.
"I am compelled to draw your attention to the decision made by Japan just this morning to remove my country from its list of trading partners that receive comprehensive export preferential treatment and this in a very unilateral, arbitrary manner. We are gravely concerned by this decision to say the least with this coming in particular in the footsteps of an earlier decision that restricts some key export items to Korea."
She added that countries should not be deterred in their collective effort to expand free, fair and non-discriminatory trade in the region.
However, Japan's Foreign Minister Taro Kono... described Kang's complaint as "groundless".
"I don't know what is the source of complaint by Foreign Minister Kang. Maintaining effective export control over sensitive goods and technology from a security perspective is Japan's responsibility as a member of the international community. Japan's necessary and legitimate review of its export control is fully compatible with free trade regime, including the WTO agreement and the relevant rules. You all know that that's why we have not got any complaints from ASEAN countries."
But in fact,... that didn't seem to be the case. When the floor was opened for each minister to read out their prepared speeches which were mostly unrelated to Seoul and Tokyo's trade disputes, Singapore's foreign minister Vivian Balakrishnan put aside his speech and said that he would give an honest opinion on the issue.
He said that none of the ASEAN members seem to be included in the whitelist,... and that Japan shouldn't be taking out countries, but rather expanding the list to build trust and dependence on each other for the region's co-prosperity.
And soon after, Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi backed this up,... saying that the East Asian countries are one family and that he regrets these issues occurred.
Wang Yi then said such issues need to be resolved with trust and goodwill.
Feeling isolated, Kono replied to these comments,... saying that Japan's three ongoing issues with South Korea are not relevant to one another,... namely Seoul's impo