The friction between Japan and South Korea is intensifying. South Korea has filed a lawsuit with the WTO

More than two months ago, the Japanese government began restricting exports of three key industrial materials to South Korea, which are essential for the production of chips and displays and could deal a heavy blow to South Korea's mainstay technology industry.

Recently, according to China News Network, Yoo Myung-hee, director of the Trade Negotiations Bureau of the South Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, said at a press conference that the South Korean government has decided to file a complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO) regarding Japan's restrictions on exports to South Korea.

Yoo Myung-hee said that this move is aimed at protecting South Korea's interests and preventing the recurrence of economic and trade abuses for political purposes. Yoo Myung-hee said that senior Japanese government officials have repeatedly stated in their speeches that their export controls are aimed at the South Korean Supreme Court's ruling on the compensation case of Korean laborers during World War II, and are discriminatory measures directly targeting South Korea. 

In addition, South Korean Trade Minister Liu Myung-hee said at a press conference on September 11 that Japan's export controls were "politically motivated" and were discriminatory measures directly targeting South Korea. 

After South Korea filed a complaint, South Korea and Japan will first need to conduct consultations within two months. If the two sides still fail to reach an agreement by then, they will enter the WTO dispute settlement procedure, and the final announcement of the litigation results may take more than two years.

In October and November 2018, the South Korean Supreme Court ruled that Japanese companies should compensate Korean laborers who were forcibly recruited during the colonial period of the Korean Peninsula, which aroused dissatisfaction from Japan. Japan insisted that according to the "Japan-South Korea Claims Agreement" signed by the two countries in 1965, Korean people can no longer claim compensation from Japan, but this view was not recognized by South Korea.

In early July 2019, the Japanese government announced that it would tighten controls on the export of three raw materials for the semiconductor industry to South Korea, triggering trade frictions between South Korea and Japan that continued to ferment. The Japanese side said that the reason for taking control measures was that South Korea had problems with export management, while the South Korean side accused Japan of taking this action as "economic retaliation" for the South Korean Supreme Court's ruling that Japanese companies should compensate for forced labor.