The government of Japan will exclude South Korea from a so-called white list of countries receiving preferential treatment to purchase technologies and high-tech products, media reported Friday, amid a trade war between the two countries.
President Moon Jae-in will chair an unscheduled Cabinet meeting later on Friday to discuss the issue, according to Moon's office, Reuters said.
The decision to remove South Korea from the list of countries which do not have to receive authorizations for purchasing technological goods will come into force in 21 days and will become the second round of trade restrictions Tokyo has imposed on Seoul.
In early July, the Japanese government canceled preferential treatment for the export of fluorinated polyimides, photoresist and hydrogen fluoride to South Korea, dealing a serious blow to the nation's high-tech manufacturing industries.
Tokyo’s decision to introduce curbs on exports of high-tech materials to South Korea is believed to be a response to Seoul’s last year’s decision to order Japanese companies to provide compensation to victims of forced labor during the Japanese colonization of the Korean Peninsula between 1910-1945.
