Japan Denies Apology to Seoul over Export Controls

Tokyo, Nov. 25 (Jiji Press)--Japanese trade minister Hiroshi Kajiyama on Monday denied a senior South Korean government official's remark that Tokyo has apologized to Seoul over the announcement of the planned restart of high-level bilateral talks on export controls. "It's not true that Japan has offered an apology," he told reporters, while saying, "It's not productive to comment" on each remark or behavior by the South Korean side. The development "will not affect" the reopening of the export control talks, he added. On Friday, South Korea made an eleventh-hour decision to extend its General Security of Military Information Agreement, or GSOMIA, with Japan, in a reversal of its earlier decision not to renew it, which reflected worsening bilateral relations. On the same day, the Japanese trade ministry announced a plan to resume bilateral bureau chief-level talks, which will focus on Tokyo's tighter controls on exports of certain semiconductor materials to South Korea, introduced in July on the grounds that there are flaws in South Korea's export control system. As the reason for the planned resumption, the ministry noted that South Korea has decided to suspend procedures for a complaint it filed with the World Trade Organization in September against the tighter export controls and shown an eagerness to resolve its own problems. In response, the senior South Korean official in question expressed displeasure on Sunday, claiming that the Japanese side intentionally distorted the content of their agreement on the restart of the trade talks. The official said that Seoul filed a strong protest to Tokyo through diplomatic channels and that the Japanese side showed understanding and offered an apology. Over the tighter Japanese export controls, South Korea takes the stance that there is no problem with its system. The Japanese ministry also rebutted the South Korean official's claims on its official Twitter account Sunday night, saying that the outline of the announcement of the restart of the trade talks had been coordinated with South Korea before its release. Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga also denied the South Korean official's remark, at a news conference on Monday. "There is no fact that the Japanese government has offered an apology" to the South Korean side, the top government spokesman said. END