S. Korea proposes UN probe over Japanese sanctions claims
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SEOUL, Korea, Republic Of — South Korea said Friday it wants an investigation by the United Nations or another international body as it continues to reject Japanese claims that Seoul could not be trusted to faithfully implement sanctions against North Korea.
Kim You-geun, deputy chief of South Korea’s presidential national security office, said South Korea has been thoroughly implementing U.N. sanctions against North Korea over its nuclear weapons program. He demanded that Japan provide evidence for claims made by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his conservative aides that there may have been illegal transfers of sensitive materials from South Korea to North Korea.
Tokyo last week tightened the approval process for Japanese shipments of photoresists and other sensitive materials to South Korea, saying such materials can be exported only to trustworthy trading partners. The move, which could potentially hurt South Korean technology companies that manufacture semiconductors and display screens used in TVs and smartphones, has triggered a full-blown diplomatic dispute between the countries that further soured relations long troubled over Japan’s brutal colonial rule of Korea before the end of World War II.
Kim said the Seoul government proposes Japan accept an inquiry by the U.N. or another international body over the export controls of both countries to end “needless arguments” and to clearly prove whether the Japanese claims are true or not.
