国际英语资讯:Japan, S.Korea fail to make progress on wartime labor dispute, intelligence sharing pact_时事

国际英语资讯:Japan, S.Korea fail to make progress on wartime labor dispute, intelligence sharing pact

As tensions escalated between both sides following the wartime labor row, 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.

Japan went on to remove South Korea from its "whitelist" of nations entitled to simplified export control procedures. It is the first time Japan has revoked a countries' trusted trade status.

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 of 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 (GSOMIA) with Japan, on exchanging classified military information.

GSOMIA is a bilateral military intelligence-sharing accord signed between both countries in November 2016. The pact between both sides has enabled the two neighbors to share military information.