일본 수출규제, WTO 최고 결정기구서 논의…‘국제적 공론화’<br /><br />At South Korea's request, the WTO will discuss Japan's export curbs.<br />It is now a formal agenda at the organization's upcoming general council meeting.<br />Kim Hye-sung explains what this means.<br />The WTO's highest decision-making body is set to discuss Japan's export restrictions on high-tech materials to South Korea.<br />Seoul's trade ministry said Sunday that Tokyo's restrictions have been taken up as one of the formal agenda at the WTO's general council meeting on July 23rd and 24th in Geneva.<br />Seoul had requested that the WTO take up the issue last week.<br />"We believe that there will be opportunities at the WTO or other multilateral, bilateral settings to raise the issue of Japan's export curbs and make clear Korea's stance."<br />All ambassadors of the WTO's 164 member countries will take part in the General Council meeting, which is the WTO's top decision-making body aside from the ministerial conferences that take place every two years.<br />Seoul is expected to call on Tokyo to lift the export curbs, criticizing them as economic retaliation that negatively affects the global value chain,... a stance it made clear earlier last week at the WTO Council for Trade in Goods.<br />"This move doesn't mean Korea is officially suing Japan over its export curbs. The WTO General Council discusses agenda of signifance as the highest decision-making body, so it means the WTO is taking Japan's trade restrictions seriously. This will be a key opportunity for South Korea to rally global opinion that Japan's export curbs are unfair and go against free trade rules."<br />Tokyo is expected to reiterate its stance that it imposed the restrictions because of "inadequate management" of sensitive items from South Korea and weak export controls.<br />A clash at the WTO is expected,... and it comes at a critical time when Japan is set to decide by July 24th whether to remove South Korea from its "whitelist" of countries that enjoy preferential treatment on trade.<br />Kim Hyesung, Arirang News.<br />
