国际英语资讯:Japan, S. Korea rift continues as little headway made in prime ministers talks_时事

国际英语资讯:Japan, S. Korea rift continues as little headway made in prime ministers talks

As tensions escalated between both sides, Japan hit back with tighter export controls on some materials used in high-tech products by South Korean firms, including some essential for use in smartphone displays and chips, mainstays of South Korea's tech-forward economy and integral to some key supply chains that flow from Japan and through South Korea onward.

With the diplomatic rift widening between the two neighbors, Japan went on to remove South Korea from its "whitelist" of nations entitled to simplified export control procedures.

Seoul had been on the "whitelist" since 2004 and had been guaranteed preferential treatment in terms of importing certain products from Japan.

South Korea retaliated by taking Japan off its own "whitelist" of trusted trade partners and announced tighter restrictions on certain imports from Japan, including coal ash and some waste recycling materials.

South Korea followed up by announcing its decision to scrap the General Security of Military Information Agreement, or GSOMIA, with Japan, on exchanging classified military information, as the tit-for-tat dispute escalated.

The GSOMIA pact between both sides, signed in 2016, had enabled the two neighbors to share military information and has helped both sides to counter potential regional threats.

The talks held between the two counterparts Thursday, however, had initially raised the prospect of the bitter dispute potentially showing embryonic signs of easing, sources close to the matter had said.