▲ South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol (L) and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida shake hands prior to their expanded summit talks at the latter's residence in Tokyo on March 16, 2023. Earlier in the day, Yoon began a two-day trip to Japan to put strained relations back on track. The summit marks the first time in 12 years that such talks have taken place amid tense relations between the two nations. (Yonhap)

(LEAD) S Korea-Japan-trade

(LEAD) Japan to put S. Korea back on preferential trade partner list after 4 years

(ATTN: ADDS more details, comments in paras 2, 6)

SEOUL, June 27 (Yonhap) -- Japan announced a decision Tuesday to reinstate South Korea on its "white list" of trusted trading partners, about four years after the removal, in a move to improve the bilateral economic relationship, Seoul's industry ministry said.

The Japanese trade ministry revised a rule to redesignate South Korea as "Group A," or a white list nation, which would give Seoul preferential export treatment, effective July 21, according to Seoul's Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

In 2019, Tokyo downgraded South Korea to "Group B" after imposing export restrictions on three key industry materials in an apparent retaliation against the South Korean Supreme Court rulings the previous year that ordered two Japanese companies to pay compensation to Korean forced labor victims during Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.

In March, the two sides vowed the reinstatement after South Korea announced plans to compensate the victims without asking Japan for contributions.

Japan lifted the export curbs on Seoul in March after South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida agreed to make joint efforts to better bilateral ties, and South Korea put Japan back on its white list the following month.

"The two nations are able to fully restore bilateral confidence in terms of export controls. Based on the improvement in ties, South Korea will continue to push for close cooperation with Japan on various bilateral and multilateral trade issues," the ministry said in a release.

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