TOKYO — Senior officials from Japan and South Korea were holding talks Monday on high-tech exports for the first time since Tokyo tightened controls on South Korean semiconductor parts earlier this year. The director-general level meeting was taking place in Tokyo between Yoichi Iida of Japan's Trade Control Department and his South Korean counterpart, Lee Ho-hyeon. Japan in July tightened trade controls on South Korea materials used in smartphones, television screens and other high-tech products, citing national security concerns. Japan also downgraded South Korea a month later from a list of preferential trade partners. South Korea has demanded Japan reverse the measures, saying Tokyo has weaponized export controls in retaliation for South Korean court rulings demanding Japanese companies pay compensation to former Korean laborers over their treatment during Japan's 1910-1945 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.

Source: International New York Times December 16, 2019 03:45 UTC