The Korea Herald

피터빈트

Parliament passes resolution urging Japan to withdraw export curbs

By Yonhap

Published : Aug. 2, 2019 - 21:33

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The National Assembly on Friday passed a resolution calling on Japan to immediately withdraw its export curbs against South Korea in a unanimous vote during a plenary meeting.

(Yonhap) (Yonhap)
The parliament also passed a resolution condemning an air incursion by Russian and Chinese warplanes and Japan's territorial claim to the South's easternmost islets of Dokdo.

The move came after Tokyo approved the removal of South Korea from a "whitelist" of trusted trading partners at a Cabinet meeting earlier in the day in what Seoul views as additional economic retaliatory measures over a historical issue.

Japan began restricting exports to South Korea of high-tech materials vital in making chips and displays on July 4 in an apparent protest against South Korean court rulings ordering Japanese firms to compensate Korean victims of Japan's wartime forced labor.

The four-point resolution on Japan was adopted by the parliamentary foreign affairs committee last week.

In the resolution, South Korean lawmakers voiced "deep" regret that Japan's move hampers Seoul-Tokyo ties and hurts the global free trade order. They also called for diplomatic solutions to the trade spat.

"The National Assembly sternly rejects Japan's retaliatory export curbs against South Korea following Korean court rulings over Tokyo's wartime forced labor," the resolution stated.

Rep. Kim Jong-hoon of minor progressive Minjung Party (Yonhap) Rep. Kim Jong-hoon of minor progressive Minjung Party (Yonhap)
The five-point resolution over territorial sovereignty also gained approval amid fresh tensions involving Russia and China over an air intrusion and Tokyo's repeated territorial claim over Dokdo.

A Russian warplane intruded into South Korea's airspace above Dokdo in the East Sea twice on July 23, prompting South Korea's Air Force to fire warning shots.

The incursion took place right after two Chinese and two Russian military jets violated South Korea's air defense identification zone without prior notice.

Japan, which claims the Dokdo islets, dispatched a warplane, claiming that the Russian aircraft had violated its territory. Tokyo also filed a protest with Seoul over its handling of the incident.

The resolution strongly urged Russia to immediately apologize for the airspace violation and condemned China and Russia's intrusion into the KADIZ without permission. It also called on Japan to drop its unreasonable territorial claim to Dokdo. (Yonhap)