Tag: South Korea

It only makes sense that Korean companies would try and cash in on the rise of Korean nationalism created by the current trade dispute with Japan:

Retailers are taking advantage of a recent wave of patriotism to increase sales ahead of Korea’s Liberation Day on Aug. 15.

As anti-Japanese sentiment in Korea grows following Tokyo’s restrictions on exports to Korea, retailers and brands have started promoting patriotic products.

Online shopping mall 11st started selling Monami pens released in time for Liberation Day. Sold as a limited edition, the pens feature an image of the Taegeuk symbol found on the Korean flag.

A total of 35,000 pen sets starting at the price of 6,000 won ($5.40) were on sale through 11st and on Monami’s own website. All the pens on 11st sold out.

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but I am still waiting for the rise in nationalism when the Chinese push around the Koreans with far worse retaliation than what the Japanese government is currently doing.

Prime Minister Abe claiming the current trade dispute with South Korea is only about national security concerns is about as believable as Japanese whaling for scientific research:

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Tuesday that the main cause of escalating tensions between Japan and South Korea is a loss of trust over court rulings ordering Japanese companies to compensate South Koreans for forced labor during World War II.

Japan has imposed export controls on key materials for South Korea’s semiconductor industry and moved to downgrade the country’s trade status. It has insisted that the measures were related to national security concerns and were not in retaliation for the court rulings, which allowed the freezing of assets of three Japanese companies in South Korea to provide the compensation money.

Japan ruled the Korean Peninsula as a colony until the end of the war, and insists that all compensation issues were settled under a 1965 agreement normalizing ties.

Stars & Stripes

Prime Minister Abe probably has to say this is about national security concerns for legal reasons, but his is how Abe is rationalizing it:

Abe said last month that it is natural to assume that South Korea would fail export control promises because it already has broken the wartime compensation agreement.

You can read more at the link.

It is not surprising that Korean lawmakers are all rushing to out do each other on their anti-Japan ideas:

A top ruling party lawmaker said Monday that the government must impose travel bans on large areas in Japan, including Tokyo, citing health risks from high radioactive levels, as a means to counter Japan’s economic retaliations.  

“We need to impose travel bans,” said Rep. Choi Jae-sung of the Democratic Party (DP), chairman of the in-house special committee on countermeasures against Japan’s economic retaliations. “We need to consider [imposing travel bans on] areas including Tokyo.” 

Choi made the recommendation during an interview with MBC radio as he discussed Korea’s possible countermeasures against Japan. In July, Tokyo tightened export restrictions on three materials crucial for Korea’s semiconductor and display productions. 

Last Friday, Tokyo escalated the row further by taking Korea off of its so-called white list of 27 trusted trade partners. 

“I cannot say the specifics of the countermeasures we are currently considering, but there are various options,” Choi said. “And we have non-economic options. Japan is making economic and industrial [attacks], but we can take non-economic measures.” 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but I wish someone in the media would ask these politicians why they did not advocate for a travel ban against China which continues its economic retaliation against Korea over the THAAD dispute.

This makes sense, with worsening youth unemployment in South Korea the ROK government has decided to cancel a job fair just because it features Japanese companies:

A job fair for Japanese companies has been scrapped amid worsening ties between Seoul and Tokyo, according to the labor ministry, Monday.

The Seoul Career Vision, a job fair hosted by the Ministry of Employment and Labor and co-organized by the Korea Trade Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) and the Human Resources Development Service of Korea, was scheduled to be held on Sept. 24 in Seoul and Sept. 26 in Busan.

It is a fair for young people seeking jobs at foreign companies, and Japanese firms have taken up a large portion in recent years, with last year’s events only for Japanese firms. 

However, the ministry has decided to cancel the event, citing the strained diplomatic relations following Japan’s economic retaliation against the Korean Supreme Court’s rulings over compensation for surviving South Korean victims of wartime forced labor.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but I am still waiting for the ROK government to cancel a Chinese job fair because of the economic retaliation from China over the THAAD dispute.

😐

Is this wise? I mean, wrongs should be righted. But SKorea is going to be taken off Japan's white list tomorrow. China and Russia are literally encircling SKorea. Is this the right time or wise to pick a fight with the US? Is the SKorean government TRYING to isolate itself? https://t.co/Ud8UZY9Kgd

— John Lee (The Korean Foreigner) (@koreanforeigner) August 1, 2019

Well it is now official that South Korea has been removed from Japan’s so called “white list” of favored trading nations:

 Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon on Saturday blasted Japan for its decision to remove South Korea from a whitelist of trusted trading partners, saying that it “crossed a line it should not have.” 

“(The decision) is the second retaliation after the country imposed export restrictions on key chip materials,” Lee said at a Cabinet meeting. 

He also said such moves could “jeopardize bilateral relations between South Korea and Japan, international free trade and interdependent economic cooperation regime, and cause a crack in the three-way security alliance with the United States.” 

“We cannot but sternly deal with the matter.” 

On Friday, Japan’s Cabinet passed a bill striking South Korea from its list of countries that require only minimal procedures to purchase sensitive materials that can be used for military use. 

South Korean President Moon Jae-in has denounced Japan’s move as a “very reckless decision”, warning that South Korea will take corresponding measures and Japan will bear full responsibility for the consequences.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but what I find most interesting is that the Moon administration has a more stern response to Japan over a trade spat the ROK government created in the first place, than North Korea shooting off missiles the Kim regime states are meant to destroy Seoul.

So when is the Korean government going to show this level of anger at North Korea for not complying with their military agreements with South Korea?

This is the only legally cultivated marijuana in #SouthKorea … A lemon haze hybrid with about ~10% thc. Grown with an R&D licence so it must be destroyed when mature. This could be just the start of exciting things here (hint)! pic.twitter.com/LxnznJMG5i

— Matt Lamers (@matt_lamers) July 31, 2019

I learn something new every day, the importation of sex dolls in South Korea used to be illegal until a recent Supreme Court ruling allowed their importation. Now activists are protesting to stop their import:

More than 200,000 people have signed a petition against the import of life-size sex dolls into Korea.

As of Wednesday, more than 210,000 people signed the petition on the Cheong Wa Dae website, a month after the Supreme Court upheld a lower court decision to allow the import of such dolls.

“They are not ordinary sex toys,” the petitioner wrote. “A life-size sex doll resembles a woman’s body in every detail. It can even be customized to fit an individual’s needs for hairstyle, facial structure, birthmarks or anything.

“Nowadays, deepfake celebrity porn videos can easily be found online. There’s no guarantee that sex dolls won’t be used for such purposes. People may be shocked to find sex dolls that look just like them. If that happens, who will take responsibility for the damage?”

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

I wonder if the Moon administration is trying to use the threat of these sanctions as way to pressure the Trump administration to help resolve the current trade dispute with Japan?:

South Korea is seeking an annual $350 million in trade sanctions against the United States in an Obama-era dispute over tariffs on steel pipes, it said in a World Trade Organization (WTO) filing published on Tuesday.

South Korea went to the WTO in 2014 to challenge U.S. tariffs levied on oil country tubular goods (OCTG), a type of steel piping used in the energy industry.

Washington said its tariffs aimed to stop South Korea exporting the product at unfairly cheap prices. After South Korea won a partial victory at the WTO, the United States had until July 12 to comply with that ruling.

South Korea said the United States had failed to do so and it was seeking sanctions equal to the level of trade harm done.

“Based on available data, this level is estimated at $350 million annually. This amount will be adjusted by applying the annual growth rate of the OCTG market of the United States,” it said in the sanctions request published by the WTO.

South Korea plans to impose the sanctions by putting tariffs on certain types of U.S. goods, which it said it would announce at a later date.

Reuters

You can read more at the link.