(original title: Xiake Island: it's really serious that Japan and South Korea suddenly 'blackmail' each other.) the situation in the Asia Pacific over the past month has been quite unstable.
No, Japan and South Korea, both allies of the United States, have also fallen out. The people of the two countries showed hostility, and the officials of the two countries did not like each other.
How much do you want to see? Just look at the expressions of Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono and South Korean foreign minister Kang Jinghe during the ASEAN foreign ministers' meeting held in Bangkok these two days.
Source: Kyodo news agency, Yonhap
As the above photos show, in order to solve the trade dispute between the two countries that has lasted for one month, the foreign ministers of Japan and South Korea held bilateral talks on August 1; On August 2, the trilateral talks were held under the coordination of US Secretary of state pompeio (middle of the picture above), but both talks collapsed.
As a result, on August 2, Japanese Minister of economy and industry Hiroshi Geng held a press conference in Tokyo and announced that the Japanese government decided to remove South Korea from the list of "white list countries" that can simplify export procedures, and the relevant measures will be officially implemented on August 28.
Earlier, after the G20 Osaka summit, the Japanese government implemented the first round of export controls to South Korea on July 4: restricting the export of three semiconductor core raw materials used to manufacture chips and LCD screens to South Korea.
How did Japan ROK relations deteriorate to this point? What on earth did the two countries quarrel and blame each other?
dispute
In early July, just after Japan announced its export control over South Korea, the South Korean government immediately summoned the Japanese ambassador for diplomatic protest, saying that Japan was going to sue Japan in the WTO in violation of the spirit of free trade.
In order to avoid the reality of population, Japan defended a reason of "big brain hole", saying that the supply restriction to South Korea was for national security reasons, because it was worried that these semiconductor materials would flow into North Korea through South Korea.
Korea: what's none of my business
In fact, we all know that Japan is retaliating against South Korea for the '2018 South Korea World War II labor claim case'. Japan tried to force the South Korean government to change its attitude in dealing with historical issues by cracking down on the South Korean science and technology industry.
On July 1, two days after the G20 Osaka summit, Japan announced that it would implement export controls on South Korea
In a circular issued on July 1, Japan's Ministry of economy, industry and Trade said vaguely: the Japanese government has to show that the trust relationship between Japan and South Korea has been seriously damaged. Considering that the specific problems of export control to South Korea can only be solved under the condition of special trust, the Ministry of industry and economy decided to change the current policy implementation.
However, on July 2, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Kan Yiwei made it clear. He told the media that South Korea has repeatedly rejected the friendly relations between the two countries. The South Korean government failed to make a satisfactory response to the wartime labor issue before the G20 summit, which seriously damaged the trust of bilateral relations.
This historical grudge between Japan and South Korea dates back to the period from 1910 to 1945. Since Japan forced South Korea to sign the Japan ROK merger treaty in 1910, for the needs of colonial rule and war, Japan forced a large number of workers on the Korean Peninsula to work hard for Japanese enterprises.
In recent years, Korean groups have been suing relevant Japanese enterprises to seek compensation for individual workers. Last October, South Korea's Supreme Court made the first ruling in support of labor, requiring Japan's Nippon Steel, Sumitomo, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and other enterprises to compensate the living workers, with a compensation of 100 million won (about 620000 yuan) per person.
Because the Japanese enterprises did not accept the judgment, in January this year, the Daegu District Court of South Korea ruled to seal up the assets of relevant Japanese enterprises in South Korea.
The Japanese government lodged a strong protest in February and threatened retaliation at that time.
The Japanese government's reason is that the labor problem has been solved as early as the Japan ROK claim agreement when the two countries established diplomatic relations in 1965.
Japan believes that according to the contents of the agreement, Japan provides $500 million in economic assistance to South Korea to realize the "complete and final" settlement of the issue of compensation claims between the two countries and their nationals. Therefore, the claim rights of South Korean people have been excluded.
Korean streets now 'boycott Japan' flash
In addition, on another important historical issue, the issue of "comfort women", the two countries also had another dispute.
On July 5, Kan Yiwei announced that Japan would "never accept" the dissolution of the "comfort women" foundation established under the 2015 South Korea Japan comfort women agreement by South Korea without the consent of Japan.
The foundation was set up by the Japanese side to invest 1 billion yen (about 63 million 700 thousand yuan) to "solve the problem of South Korean comfort women" in a final and irreversible way. The moon Jae in 2017, which was in office, believed that the agreement did not reflect the will of the victims, and announced the dissolution of the foundation last November.
From this perspective, Japan's mentality of launching this round of trade attack is clear: Japan believes that the historical problems of Japan and South Korea have been solved through the agreements during Park Geun hye and the previous government, and the current South Korean government tore up the relevant agreements and continued to put Japan under moral pressure internationally. Therefore, South Korea must be punished.
In October 2018, the Supreme Court of Korea made a ruling in support of labor. The picture shows the arrival of the victim Kim Sung soo (in the middle of the front row) and the relatives of other victims at the Supreme Court
reason
After all, this is the first time since the end of World War II that Japan has separated from western countries and adopted technical and economic sanctions to force other countries to accept their political demands.
As soon as this round of Japanese policy was introduced, it caused great controversy in the international community. Japanese officials at all levels listed on many occasions how to explain this move reasonably and legally, trying to correct their previous remarks.
In an interview with Fuji Television on July 7, Japanese Prime Minister Abe forcibly pulled 'North Korea' in: obviously, South Korea has not complied with its diplomatic commitments on labor issues, so it can only be considered that it will not comply with the sanctions against North Korea.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Kan Yiwei took over the stick and directly denied his previous statement. He said that Japan's restrictions on exports to South Korea had nothing to do with "historical issues". Japan was out of "national security" considerations to prevent the flow of key military technologies into North Korea, so it was in line with WTO principles.
From the perspective of international law, this statement can really find a basis. Under the framework of WTO principles, Article 21 of the general agreement on Tariffs and trade (GATT) says:?
Nothing in this Agreement shall be construed as: (a) requiring any party to provide any information that it considers would be contrary to its fundamental security interests if disclosed; and (b) preventing any party from taking any action it deems necessary to protect its fundamental national security interests & hellip
The WTO allows its members to take exceptional measures to safeguard national security.
Japan also found a more "reasonable" explanation for Japan's announcement on August 2 to remove South Korea from the list of "white list countries".
Shigeng Hongcheng explained at the press conference on the same day that the revision of the wheelset list was based on Japan's foreign exchange and foreign trade law.
The law stipulates that friendly countries recognized by Japan in terms of national security can be included in the white list. In terms of exporting important strategic technologies and materials, Japan will give these countries preferential treatment measures to simplify export procedures.
Shops in South Korea post 'no Japanese entry'
Previously, 26 countries in Europe and America were included in the 'white list'. South Korea, which was included in 2004, is the only Asian country on the list.
Therefore, Japan proposed that the removal of South Korea from the white list is only to restore South Korea to the same treatment as China and other Asian countries. In the future, when Japanese enterprises apply for the export of key technology products to South Korea, the Japanese government will perform the normal examination and approval procedures.
Uncle Dao noted that it is strange that the Japanese media now follow the government's attitude and change the reporting caliber. The Japanese media no longer directly say the causes of the dispute, but after listing the position of the Japanese government, add the opinions of the South Korean side, and then point out the 'labor problem'.
answer
Does Japan's restriction on the export of three semiconductor materials and the removal of South Korea from the white list have a great impact on South Korea? Now it seems that its impact can not be underestimated, and South Korea has not put forward substantive countermeasures yet.
In early July, South Korea proposed to sue Japan in the WTO. Now a month later, South Korea has not formally filed a lawsuit in the WTO. Only at the meeting of the WTO goods Council on July 9, it successfully added a provisional agenda to accuse the representatives of participating countries of Japan's practices.
Posters of 'boycott of Japanese goods' in Korean streets and stores
First of all, whether South Korea will win the WTO lawsuit or not. Whether the affected South Korean enterprises can finish the case is a problem, because according to the customary efficiency of the WTO, this must be a protracted case, which can be delayed for several years.
You know, although Japan has lost the advantage of the whole manufacturing industry in the past, it still maintains a monopoly advantage in some cutting-edge technologies and materials in the high-tech field.
For example, the three semiconductor materials previously controlled by Japan - fluoropolyimide and photoresist produced by Japanese enterprises account for about 90% of the global output, and high-purity hydrogen fluoride accounts for about 70%. It can be said that companies such as Samsung and LG in South Korea are highly dependent on these three materials.
Moon Jae in the past month has repeatedly convened the heads of major Korean technology companies to discuss solutions. At present, the Korean government announced that it would support diversification of import sources, increase the R & D budget and improve the localization rate of key technologies.
In July 10th, Wen Zaiyin (right five) spoke at the Chong Wa Dae with the president of the 30 big conglomerates in Korea.
It is speculated that this has happened. Will South Korea take countermeasures in the near future?
On July 30, South Korean foreign minister Kang Jinghe hinted at the South Korean parliament that he would consider whether to terminate the Korea Japan military affairs protection agreement depending on the development of South Korea Japan relations.
The agreement, which came into force in November 2016, stipulates that Japan and South Korea can directly share confidential information in the security field without the consent and transit of the United States. Yonhap also reported late yesterday (August 2) that Hong Nanji, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of planning and finance of South Korea, said that South Korea will strengthen export controls against Japan and remove Japan from South Korea's export 'white list'.
Hong Nanji said: "we will first strengthen safety management in the fields of tourism, food and waste."