Despite criticism at home and abroad, Japan has pushed forward its plan to regulate exports to South Korea of three high-tech materials that are crucial for producing semiconductors and display panels.

Under the trade restrictions Tokyo implemented on midnight Wednesday, Japanese firms are required to secure government approval in order to export fluorinated polyimides, photoresists or etching gas to South Korean companies.  

The sanctions are sure to disrupt the semiconductor production schedules of South Korean companies, including Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics, which have heavily depended on these key items. The move is also likely to deal a serious blow to related industries all around the world that rely on chips made by South Korean companies.  

Nearly 94 percent of fluorinated polyimides and photoresists used by South Korean firms come from Japan, while some 44 percent of etching gas is imported from the island nation as well. 

Japan is also said to be considering stricter export controls on more goods such as electronic parts and related materials with military applications. It is mulling excluding South Korea from a list of 27 countries where high-tech materials can be exported without government permits, too. Japanese firms that wish to export items to non-list states must apply for a permit that can take about 90 days to be approved. 

Japan’s latest move is seen by many as retaliation against South Korean Supreme Court rulings ordering Japanese firms to compensate colonial-era victims of forced labor.