강경화 "일본이 백색국가 배제하면, 안보 틀 재검토 불가피"
Japan is widely expected to make a decision this Friday to take South Korea off its whitelist of countries that get preferential trade conditions.
South Korea's foreign affairs minister met with her Japanese counterpart earlier today to once again... not to take that course, but it doesn't seem like there was a breakthrough.
Our foreign affairs correspondent Lee Ji-won is in Bangkok for us.
Ji-won.
Devin, so the meeting this morning lasted about an hour,... and despite South Korea's strong message to Japan not to aggravate the situation, it looks like Japan will move forward with taking Seoul off of its whitelist of countries that get preferential trade conditions tomorrow.
A senior official at South Korea's foreign ministry told reporters soon after the sitdown, that Japan remained firm in its stance and that the differences could not be narrowed down.
He said minister Kang asked Minister Taro Kono to cease Japan's unfair trade restrictions on Seoul imposed earlier this month,... as well as to stop its move to take South Korea off the whitelist.
Now, while Japan argues that the move is based on security concerns related to South Korea,... it seems to clearly be retaliation for South Korean court rulings last year that Japanese firms must compensate Koreans who were forced to work for them during Japan's colonial rule.
This is in line with how Japan continued to discuss the forced labor issue when discussing these trade restrictions, even today.
In response,... Seoul hinted to Japan that it might choose not to renew the two countries' military information-sharing pact at the end of this month.
"If Japan decides to take South Korea off its whitelist tomorrow, we are going to have to take necessary countermeasures as well. Japan cited security concerns for its trade restrictions on Seoul, so we told them that we have no choice but to review various security related ties as well."
As much as South Korea has made efforts right until the last minute to solve the issue diplomatically, a senior foreign affairs official, matching Kang's comments, told reporters what happens next is the result of Japan's actions.
