S. Korea calls for intl probe over feud with Japan

Seoul called on Friday for an international investigation of what it said were accusations by Japanese officials that it had passed some high-tech materials imported from Japan on to North Korea in violation of UN sanctions.

Japan last week tightened restrictions on the export of three materials used in smartphone displays and chips, after South Korea’s “failure to act” in response to a ruling by a court last October ordering Japan’s Nippon Steel Corp to compensate former forced laborers.

A Japanese Foreign Ministry official said on Friday the curbs on exports of the materials were not retaliation in the feud over compensation for South Koreans forced to work for Japanese firms, Reuters reports.

Kim You-geun, South Korea’s deputy director of national security, said the country has fully enforced UN sanctions on Pyongyang. Japanese and South Korean officials were meeting in Tokyo on Friday to discuss tightening of controls on high-tech exports.