S. Korea Restores Japan's Place On Export 'White List'

Facts

• South Korea's ministry of trade, industry, and energy on Monday announced Japan's reinstatement to its "white list" of trusted trading partners, which grants simplified procedures for countries buying sensitive goods that can be diverted to military use.¹
• The change took effect the same day, subjecting firms exporting strategic items to Japan to a shorter review period of five days — rather than the usual 15 — and less paperwork than those excluded from the list.²
• This latest development is part of broader reconciliation efforts by both nations, which are seeking to rebuild their relations amid US efforts to create a global supply chain less reliant on China and to ramp up trilateral collaboration in other areas.³
• Seoul and Tokyo began a diplomatic thaw in March after Pres. Yoon Suk-yeol met his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida to amend their bilateral ties. While South Korean officials are confident that the country will return to Japan's preferential list, it may take longer for Tokyo to revise domestic export regulations.⁴
• The neighbors had revoked each other's preferential trading statuses three years ago amid a diplomatic row, following an order made by the Korean Supreme Court for two Japanese companies to compensate victims of forced labor during Japan's 35-year colonial rule.⁵
• Along with this announcement, South Korea's ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy stated that it would further restrict technology and industrial exports to Russia and its ally Belarus to support the US-led campaign against Moscow over the Ukraine war.⁶

Sources: ¹Korea Herald, ²Kyodo News+, ³The Japan Times, ⁴Al Jazeera, ⁵Korea JoongAng Daily, and ⁶Associated Press.

Narratives

• Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by Korea Times. This is another move taken under the Yoon administration to strengthen South Korean ties with its democratic allies. While this decision can indeed be in the country's national interest, Seoul should refrain from creating enmities with its powerful neighbors — China and Russia — and rather maintain its decades-old strategic balance.
• Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by Washington Post. Japan and South Korea have been warming ties — without any pressure from the US — after decades of distant relations, in response to Beijing's growing aggression in the Indo-Pacific. While some claim that moves to counter China are part of US-led groupthink, it gets more clear by the day that the demand is in fact being exerted the other way around, directly from US allies in Asia.

Predictions