Japan export restrictions are not countermeasures over forced wartime labour

Japan’s industry ministry said on Friday officials briefed their South Korean counterparts on Japanese export restrictions and reiterated that they were not countermeasures in a row over the issue of forced wartime labour.

South Korean officials did not ask that Japan withdraw the export restrictions, a Japanese ministry official told reporters, after a meeting between the two sides that lasted more than five hours.

Japan also told the South Korean officials that South Korea’s trade control system was “vulnerable”.