Anchor: Despite criticism at home and abroad, Japan has pushed ahead its regulation of exports to South Korea of three high-tech materials that are crucial for the production of semiconductors and display panels. South Korea's Presidential National Security Council addressed Japan's trade restrictions on Thursday, calling it "political retaliation" that violates international law.
Kim Bum-soo has more. 

Report: Starting Thursday, Japanese firms are required to secure government approval in order to export fluorinated polyimides, photoresists or etching gas to South Korean companies.

The measures are sure to disrupt the semiconductor production schedules of South Korean companies, which heavily depend on the materials.   

The Presidential National Security Council(NSC) convened a meeting Thursday to discuss the issue. In a press release after the meeting, it said the move is political retaliation that violates the norms set by the World Trade Organization.

Seoul says the dispute stems from the South Korean Supreme Court's ruling last year that ordered certain Japanese firms to pay reparations to South Korean victims of Japan's wartime forced labor. 

This came a day after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe denied Tokyo's restriction on exports to South Korea was "an embargo." He insisted it's a trade control for national security reasons.

[Sound bite: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (Japanese)] 
"We did not intertwine historical issues with trade issues. The Issue of Former Civilian Workers is not an historical issue but about whether to keep the promise between countries under international law... " 

Japan is also said to be considering expanding the export controls and may seek stricter regulations on goods such as electronic parts and related materials with military applications.

During a local radio interview on Thursday, South Korea's Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki urged Japan to withdraw its export restrictions, also denouncing them as "economic retaliation." 

Hong said Seoul will decide when to file a complaint with the World Trade Organization as soon as an internal review is complete. 

The minister also warned that Japan's export restrictions could hurt Tokyo as well as Seoul.
Kim Bum-soo, KBS World Radio News.