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Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga

The Japanese government objected to remarks from South Korean President Moon Jae-in strongly criticizing its export control measures.

Speaking at a regular press conference on the morning of July 16, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, a spokesperson for the Japanese government, said, “Japan has consistently explained that [the export controls] are not ‘resistance measures’ [in response to a South Korean Supreme Court ruling ordering compensation for forced labor mobilization], but that we are reexamining operations in the interest of suitably managing exports for purposes of guaranteeing security.”

“[President Moon’s remarks] were not at all correct,” Suga said.

“These are not retaliatory measures,” he insisted.

In another press conference the same day, Hiroshige Seko, who heads the agency responsible for the export controls as Japan’s Minister of Economy, Trade, and Industry, said, “We have clearly stated that this reexamination [of export management] has always been about reexamining of operations in the interest of suitably implementing export management for purposes of guaranteeing security.”

Ahead of his press conference, Seko posted five Twitter messages shortly after midnight criticizing the remarks from President Moon.

“Decisions on export permits are something that each country assumes responsibility for,” he wrote.

“[The Japanese export controls] are not something that requires ‘checking’ by international institutions,” he added, effectively rejecting Seoul’s proposal to have an international agency verify allegations that strategic goods were being leaked to North Korea.

By Cho Ki-weon, Tokyo correspondent

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