▲ Containers are stacked at a port in the southeastern city of Busan, in this June 21, 2023, file photo. (Yonhap)

customs agency-Japan

S. Korean, Japanese customs agencies to hold bilateral meeting in H2

By Kang Yoon-seung

SEJONG, June 30 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's customs agency said Friday it plans to hold a long-stalled bilateral meeting with its Japanese counterpart in the second half of this year, amid their improving economic relations.

Commissioner Yoon Tae-sik plans to meet his Japanese counterpart later this year here, which would mark the first time for the leaders of the two countries' customs agencies to meet since 2016, according to the Korea Customs Service.

The decision followed a meeting between Finance Minister Choo Kyung-ho and his Japanese counterpart, Shunichi Suzuki, in Tokyo on Thursday, where the two countries agreed to make full-fledged efforts to normalize ties, including the resumption of a US$10 billion currency swap deal.

"The upcoming meeting will focus on revitalizing bilateral trade amid the reshuffle of global supply chains and the escalating uncertainties in global commerce," the agency said in a statement.

Other agenda items will include expanding cooperation in cracking down on the trade of illegal items and promoting exchanges in global platforms, such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.

In 2019, the bilateral relationship soured as Japan imposed export curbs on South Korea in retaliation for the 2018 South Korean Supreme Court rulings ordering Japanese firms to compensate South Korean victims of forced labor during Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.

Relations between South Korea and Japan began to thaw this year after South Korea offered to resolve the forced labor issue by compensating victims on its own without asking for contributions from Japan.

Earlier this week, Japan announced its plan to reinstate South Korea on its "white list" of trusted trading partners, about four years after its removal, in a move to improve bilateral economic relations.

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