Moon seeks to erase Japan’s ‘superiority’
SEOUL: South Korea’s president yesterday described the country’s escalating trade war with Japan as a wake-up call to revamp its economy and also issued a nationalistic call for economic cooperation with North Korea, which he said would allow the Koreas to erase Japan’s economic superiority in “one burst’.’
President Moon Jae-in made the comments during a meeting with senior aides to discuss Japan’s move to downgrade South Korea’s trade status and tighten controls on exports to South Korean manufacturers. Mr Moon has described Japan’s moves as a deliberate attempt to damage South Korea’s export-dependent economy and accused Tokyo of weaponising trade to retaliate over political disputes surrounding the countries’ bitter wartime history.
Early yesterday, South Korea said it plans to spend 7.8 trillion won (200 billion baht) over the next seven years to develop technologies for industrial materials and parts as it moves to reduce its dependence. The government will also financially support South Korean companies in mergers and acquisitions of foreign companies and expand tax benefits to lure more international investment while easing labour and environmental regulations so that local companies could boost their production, the country’s trade ministry said.
South Korea’s plans are aimed at stabilising the supply of 100 key materials and parts in semiconductors, display screens, automobiles and other major export sectors, where its companies have heavily relied on Japanese imports to produce finished products.
“We need to do more than just overcome Japan’s trade retaliation and arm ourselves with a broader sight and extraordinary determination to surpass Japan’s economy,’’ Mr Moon said during the meeting at Seoul’s presidential Blue House.
“We should invest efforts to significantly enhance the competitiveness of (South Korea’s) parts and materials industry and also apply economic policies to revive vitality across all areas of our economy,’’ he said.
Mr Moon used the meeting to convey a positive message to North Korea, which has significantly reduced its diplomatic activity with the South amid a stalemate in larger nuclear negotiations with the United States.
The North has been ramping up its weapons tests in recent weeks while expressing frustration over the slow pace of diplomacy and the continuance of US-South Korea military drills that it sees as an invasion rehearsal.
“The advantage Japan’s economy has over us is the size of its (overall) economy and domestic market. If the South and North could create a peace economy through economic cooperation, we can catch up with Japan’s superiority in one burst,’’ Mr Moon said. “Japan absolutely cannot prevent our economy from taking a leap. Rather, (Japan) will serve as a stimulant that strengthens our determination to become an economic power.’’