Tension between Japan, neighbors will test Motegi's diplomatic skills

What tension ? Neighbors have different views, that is all human and civilized manner. Looking forward, unite people, find common ground, the future for northeast Asia is brighter than 100 Suns.

"I want Mr Motegi to make full use of his negotiating skills”

Whats wrong with Mr. Abe’s? How long has he been ‘negotiating’ with South Korea and Russia? I hope Mr. Motegi does better; he can’t do worse.

Seoul says the measures, along with its removal from Tokyo's "white list" of trade partners that enjoy expedited regulatory procedures, are "discriminatory"

I completely disagree with this. I consider that when SK was on Japan's Whitelist while no other Asian nation was on it, it was discriminatory to those other Asian nations. Now that SK has been removed and is on an equal footing with all the other Asian nations, it can not be called "discriminatory". If this is the basis of SK's claim at the WTO it's not even worth the time.

> OssanAmericaToday  09:14 am JST

Seoul says the measures, along with its removal from Tokyo's "white list" of trade partners that enjoy expedited regulatory procedures, are "discriminatory"

I completely disagree with this. I consider that when SK was on Japan's Whitelist while no other Asian nation was on it, it was discriminatory to those other Asian nations. Now that SK has been removed and is on an equal footing with all the other Asian nations, it can not be called "discriminatory". If this is the basis of SK's claim at the WTO it's not even worth the time.

Well said.

I'd also add, if I may, that at no point did South Korea admit that its strong economic growth was attributed to Japan's support and tolerance of years of untrustworthy behaviour. Now that it has all come out in the media, South Korea doesn't look like the 'powerhouse' it purported itself to be. It was all due to Japan's help. South Korea's reaction to the removal of preferential export process proves beyond a doubt that South Korea enjoyed undereserved preferential treatment which directly contributed to their national well being.

Now it's up to South Korea to prove that they deserve the preferential treatment by providing Japan with guarantees that sensitive tech materials that could be used for weapons manufacturing don't end up in North Korean hands... but they refuse to do so.

The question is why.

Motegi has "negotiating skills"???  Any evidence of these legendary "skills"??

South Korea doesn't look like the 'powerhouse' it purported itself to be. It was all due to Japan's help.

SK is now a democracy, with industries producing high quality goods, and ha gained much world respect.

This is mostly due to Sk's hard work, resilience, and endeavour.

Japan may have helped a little bit.

A simple sorry, a little balance and stop listening to america will stop all Mr Motegi problems.

i heard Japan’s high lank Cabinet Office and Ministry of Finance officer, ret. saying on the radio “It’s just one Excel file that they need to send to Japan so that to stay on the white list why can’t they do that?”

Why can’t they disclose end users of those materials? They don’t know themselves? If so why not simply ask for international support to clarify?

Abe will need a watertight team to tackle other issues including efforts to retrieve Japanese nationals abducted by North Korean agents in the 1970s and 1980s, as well as countering China's growing assertiveness in the East and South China seas.

Delusion.

i heard Japan’s high lank Cabinet Office and Ministry of Finance officer, ret. saying on the radio “It’s just one Excel file that they need to send to Japan so that to stay on the white list why can’t they do that?”

That is not true at all.

The SK companies are now required several pages of data when applying for import clearance and some of the requirements will risk them revealing their production techniques something that any company will be reluctant to do.

The SK companies are now required several pages of data when applying for import clearance and some of the requirements will risk them revealing their production techniques something that any company will be reluctant to do.

This is because SK is not on the white list now. The same requirements apply to all other Asian countries as they are not on the list. What I said was the.requirement for SK to STAY ON THE LIST instead of standard requirements for non listed countries. SK chose to get off the list by neglecting the former.

On relations with South Korea, the basic policy line won't be changed under Motegi. In his inaugural talk to the press, Motegi already urged the Blue House to abide by the international agreement over the conflicting issue relating to wartime labours. Seoul will get disappointed if it was expecting some breakthrough.