The Diplomat: Japan's Economic Restrictions on South Korea Are Overkill

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Japan's Economic Restrictions on South Korea Are Overkill
If the forced labor rulings are the hidden motivation, Tokyo’s actions are wildly disproportionate.

By Troy Stangarone The Diplomat
August 05, 2019

With Japan’s decision to remove South Korea from its “white list” of trusted export destinations, the two countries increasingly appear to be headed for a long-term standoff. Without judging which party is right or wrong in the underlying dispute, Japan’s disproportionate response, applying pressure through its economic relationship with South Korea, has raised the risk of a protracted standoff.

Nominally, the dispute between Japan and South Korea is about Seoul’s export control regime to prevent Japanese goods with potential military applications from being re-exported to countries such as North Korea. Japan says that it has lost trust in South Korea and has accused it of not preventing the export of sensitive materials to North Korea on five separate occasions since 2004.

If true, this would be a technical issue, and something that seemingly could be fixed through consultation between the two countries.

Dispassionate analysis by the numbers. More at link:

https://thediplomat.com/2019/08/japans-economic-restrictions-on-south-korea-are-overkill/