White List Exclusion Effects written by 10607 Bae Seok Yeung

 

What Is the White List?

 

The white list gives preferential treatment to countries that Japan trusts to trade sensitive goods and to be subject to list regulations. Being excluded from the white list means not being trusted and national security concerns.

 

South Korea was Asia's only white-listed country. It also became the first country to be excluded from the list. If catchall regulations are applied later, the Japanese government will be able to regulate exports even if items not on the list are not for security reasons.

 

What’s the Problem?

 

South Korea has been excluded from the comprehensive export license list for three items (fluorine polyimide, resist, hydrogen fluoride) since it has been excluded from the white country.

 

These items are the main materials used to manufacture semiconductors and displays, and fluorine polyimide is used for smartphone displays and others, resist is used as a de-sensor for manufacturing semiconductor substrates, and etching gas is used for washing semiconductors.

 

Semiconductor and display industries are expected to be at a disadvantage in the future as they will have to be approved by the Japanese government, which will take about 90 days to export these products to Korea.

 

South Korean companies have until now relied almost entirely on regulated Japanese exports for items that are in Japan.

 

According to Korea International Trade Association, last year, 93.2 percent of the resinous polyimide imported by domestic companies was from Japan, and 84.5 percent of the fluorine polyimide was from Japan.

 

Therefore, it is expected that this will have a negative impact on South Korea, which has a large share of the semiconductor industry.

 

Japanese companies, which have long been in the black in trade with Korea, and global companies that have been receiving semiconductors from Korea are also expected to suffer.

 

The Boycott

 

Anti-Japanese sentiment is escalating as the Japanese government regulates the exportation. As a result, Korea is thinking that this movement is retaliatory action.

 

But Japan insists that excluding Korea from the White List is not the retaliatory action.

 

Detailed boycott plans such as not buying or selling products from many Japanese brands and not traveling to and from Japan are spreading.

 

As of early July, sales of imported Japanese beer fell 23.7 percent from the same day of the week before, and some retailers declared a halt to sales of Japanese products.

 

Also, the number of Japanese travelers, has been declining. However, such boycotts have also created an illusion for consumers.

 

Many people mistook Korean companies for Japanese and staged boycotts. As a result, some companies are actively explaining that they have nothing to do with Japan and trying to get away from the boycott.