President Yoon Suk Yeol with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida
South Korea will be reinstated to Japan’s list of trusted trade partners in July, the government announced Tuesday, restoring its exclusion in 2019 amid a dispute over historical forced labour.
The move, which follows Seoul’s restoration of Japan to its own trade ‘white list’ earlier this year, is the latest step in the neighbours’ effort to heat ties.
According to Tokyo’s trade ministry, trade with South Korea will once again be expedited beginning in July.
Because of the painful memories of Japan’s brutal occupation of the Korean peninsula from 1910 to 1945, relations between the two United States allies have long been strained.
South Korea’s Supreme Court ordered Japanese companies to compensate the wartime victims of forced labour in 2018, provoking an escalation of tit-for-tat economic sanctions.
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However, since taking office last year, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has moved to fast enhance ties with Japan in the face of North Korean threats.
Yoon proposed a proposal to compensate victims without direct involvement from Tokyo in March, a move that was unpopular at home
but helped mend relations with Japan.
Yoon and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida have resumed regular high-level meetings since then, with Yoon visiting Tokyo in April and Kishida travelling to Seoul last month.
Japan also lifted export curbs on semiconductor materials for South Korea this year, while Seoul abandoned a WTO case against Japan and proceeded to normalise a military intelligence-sharing pact.
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