Seoul says it will respond to Japan’s exclusion of South Korea from its list of trusted trade partners with a similar measure. 

Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki announced the move on Friday during a joint ministerial briefing held in the wake of Japan's additional trade curbs on the country. He said the South Korean government will start taking steps to remove Japan from its own trade "whitelist" and strengthen export controls. 

The minister emphasized that Seoul will strongly urge Tokyo to retract its whitelist exclusion measure through various channels and come to the negotiating table while continuing efforts to resolve the issue diplomatically.

However, he said Seoul will still strengthen safety-related controls on Japanese products, starting in the areas of tourism, food and waste disposal. 

He said the government will also speed up efforts to file official complaints against Tokyo’s trade restrictions with the World Trade Organization, noting that they mount to an outright violation of WTO norms.