Korea expands export restrictions against Russia, Belarus

Korea has expanded export restrictions against Russia and its ally Belarus amid media reports that the G7 is considering a complete export ban against Russia over the war in Ukraine.

Containers stacked at the port of Incheon on April 17. [NEWS1]

Korea has expanded export restrictions against Russia and its ally Belarus amid media reports that the G7 is considering a complete export ban against Russia over the war in Ukraine.

At the same time, Korea has restored Japan's trusted trading partner status, signaling improved relations between the two neighbors since President Yoon Suk Yeol's visit to Tokyo in March.

The Trade Ministry issued a revision to its public notice on exporting strategic items on Monday, toughening the process to be applied on items being shipped to Russia and Belarus while putting Japan back on its "white list" of countries eligible for preferential treatment in trade.

The revision against Russia and its ally Belarus will be implemented starting Friday.

Since February, Korea has placed restrictions on 57 items when shipped to Russia. This time, 741 more items were added to the export restriction list, bringing the total to 798 items.

The restrictions include items such as semiconductors that could be used in developing advanced weapons.

The ministry said while it may allow exports on a case-by-case basis but in principle, the exports of items on the list are banned.

In addition to semiconductors, other major items on the restriction list are heavy machinery, vehicles worth over $50,000 and auto parts.

The existing list included electronic devices and shipbuilding-related products.

Moscow last week warned Seoul against meddling in the war in Ukraine, especially after Yoon, in an interview with Reuters, said Korea could provide military aid to Kyiv if Ukrainian civilians are attacked in a significant way.

Yoon's comments suggested a stark turnaround from Seoul's previous policy of providing only humanitarian aid to Ukraine.

Russia immediately hit back, reportedly hinting at the possibility of arming North Korea with Russian weapons.

Korea's expanded export restrictions follow a Japanese media report that the G7 countries are mulling a near-total export ban against Russia.

According to the Korea International Trade Association, last year the trade between Korea and Russia shrunk 22.6 percent year-on-year to $21.2 billion.

Exports shrunk by 36.6 percent, while imports declined by 14.6 percent.

The newly published export guidelines also reflected significant changes in the trade relationship with Japan.

Japan has been put back on Korea's so-called white list, an import fast track for friendly countries.

Japan's return to the list came almost four years after it was delisted as the tension between the two countries surged when Japan took retaliatory trade actions in response to Korean court rulings ordering Japanese companies to pay compensation to victims of wartime forced labor.

The reinstatement takes effect starting Monday.

By putting Japan back on the list, the export approval process of strategic items such as advanced materials and electronic parts will be shortened from the previous 15 days to 5 days, while the number of documents required for the process will be reduced to three from the previous five.

There are currently 29 countries on Korea's white list, including Japan.

Japan is yet to restore Korea's status as a favored trade partner, as it "requires administrative processes involving the cabinet" for the reinstatement, which may take some time, according to a spokesperson for Korea's Trade Ministry.

The industry ministries of Korea and Japan held a face-to-face meeting attended by director-general-level officials in Korea last week to discuss measures to further normalize the trade relations between the two countries and plan to proceed with the discussion from Monday to Tuesday in Japan.

The move follows the summit between Yoon and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in March, which marked the first visit from a Korean president to Japan for a bilateral meeting in 12 years.

Ahead of the summit, Japan removed its export curbs on key semiconductor materials to Korea, which had been imposed on July 2019 following a court decision in late 2018 calling for compensation for Koreans forced into labor by Japan during World War II.

With the lifting of export curbs, Korea simultaneously withdrew its complaint filed with the World Trade Organization against Japan for its restrictions.

BY SHIN HA-NEE [shin.hanee@joongang.co.kr]