SEOUL – South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol said on Tuesday he would ask his administration to initiate a process to reinstate Japan as a country on a “white list” to promote bilateral trade.
The move comes on the heels of a summit between Yoon Suk-yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida last week, in a joint effort to redevelop ties between Seoul and Tokyo.
“I’m sure Japan will respond if South Korea first starts to remove the obstacles” preventing the development of bilateral relations, Yoon Suk-yeol said during a televised cabinet meeting.
South Korea and Japan withdrew their respective trade benefits in 2019, after decades of tensions over compensation for South Korean citizens who were subjected to forced labor during the Japanese occupation between 1910 and 1945.
Yoon Suk-yeol, who came to power last May, has vowed to restore relations between the two countries, making the first visit to Tokyo by a South Korean leader in 12 years last week.
Source: Challenges