Trump says ready to help resolve Korea
WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President Donald Trump said Friday he remained at the ready to help South Korea and Japan solve their lingering dispute over World War II-era forced labor that has blighted their trade ties.
After South Korea's high court ordered Japanese firms that used forced labor to compensate victims, Tokyo in early July restricted exports of chemicals vital to Seoul's world-leading chip and smartphone industry in an escalation of their decades-old row.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in has said Japan's actions are politically motivated and have caused an "unprecedented emergency" for his country's export-driven economy.
At the White House, Trump said Moon "tells me that they have a lot of friction going on now with respect to trade, primarily with respect to trade.
Japan has some things that South Korea wants, and he asked me to get involved."
"I like both leaders. I like President Moon, and you know how I feel about Prime Minister (Shinzo) Abe. He's a very special guy also," the president added.
"So if they need me, I'm there."
The row comes with tech companies around the world already under pressure from a weakening global outlook, while the chip sector is particularly threatened by soft demand.
Japanese and South Korean officials held hours of talks on July 12 to discuss their row, without sign of a detente.
That meeting came after the US State Department promised to do "everything we can" to ease tensions between the two US allies.
"We all face shared regional challenges and priorities in the Indo-Pacific and around the world," department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said at that time.
All three countries face an increasingly assertive China and the long-running threat of nuclear-armed North Korea.
Senior South Korean official Kim Hyun-chong, on a visit to Washington earlier this month, said the United States wanted high-level three-way talks to resolve the spat, according to the Yonhap news agency.
Ortagus declined to discuss potential meetings, but top US diplomat Mike Pompeo and his two counterparts are all expected to be in Bangkok around the end of the month for meetings of the ASEAN bloc of Southeast Asian nations.
In South Korea, where almost seven in 10 people report negative feelings toward the country's former colonial ruler, the spat has even led beer-lovers to boycott Japanese brews.
E-Mart, the country's largest hypermarket chain, said sales of Asahi, Kirin, Sapporo and Suntory beer fell nearly 25 percent in the first two weeks of July compared with the second half of June.
More broadly, given the volume of trade between the two neighbors, if the restrictions are sustained or expanded it would have "no small impact on our economy", South Korea's central bank chief Lee Ju-yeol told reporters.
(责任编辑:新闻中心)
- A Barbie flip phone is here from HMD
- S. Korea says it fired warning shots at 'balloon' from North
- 从致富带头人到编外团委副书记
- New bulletin board on jobs highlights president's focus on job creation
- 高温难耐,工会驿站化身“清凉小屋”
- [Exclusive] Samsung unsure of Suga's future as brand ambassador: source
- Mao Zedong's grandson possibly killed in North Korean bus crash
- PSG say Saudi's Al Hilal can talk to Mbappe
- [Breaking] Ousted President Park arrives at court for her trial over corruption
- Swifties for Kamala raises over $100,000 in donations for Harris campaign
- Open approach to NK at odds with rest of world
- 放弃休息 战斗一线保畅通
- Chalmers takes heart from Popovici flop
-
味道真系正!怀集食材邂逅顺德厨艺_南方+_南方plus借顺德区举办第46届国际龙家具展览会和第36届亚洲国际家具材料博览会之机,8月19日,怀集县联合顺德区在龙江镇S-Park体育公园举办“怀集味道· ...[详细]
-
[Breaking] S. Korean President Moon convenes NSC meeting on NK's missile launch
(Yonhap)[Breaking] S. Korean President Moon convenes NSC meeting on NK's missile launch ...[详细] -
雅安日报讯雨城区地税局为加强领导干部廉洁自律工作和干部队伍建设,进一步增强全局党员干部廉政意识,推进反腐败斗争深入开展,采取“四项措施”贯彻落实《廉政准则》。一是加强理论学习。将贯彻活动作为加强党员领 ...[详细]
-
Amazon Prime's newest perk: Exclusive concerts
Put on your dancing shoes, which presumably arrived at your house with free shipping.Amazon's Prime ...[详细] -
Apple iPod: The First 10 Years of the Ubiquitous Media Player
#ThrowbackThursday: The iPod is one of the most iconic devices of the 21st century and the product t ...[详细] -
'I will never talk about Brazil, I am Real coach’
LOS ANGELES:Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti moved Thursday to tamp down discussion of his possible ...[详细] -
打太极、听广播、散步……是大多数老年人的生活方式。但雨城区一机关单位却有一位“与众不同”的老年。9月5日,记者见到他时,他正在该机关院内的 家属楼、院落仔细检查,对存在的卫生问题进行登记。他就是雨城区 ...[详细]
-
Scam Alert: Amazon Prime Video users are being tricked into paying fake fees
We all know those dreaded streaming app screens that pop up on our smart TVs just when we get comfor ...[详细] -
How to trademark your TikTok phrase and protect your brand
So, you had a video go viral and it had a very specific phrase, like "Hawk Tuah on that thang" or "v ...[详细] -
民警在国道108线名山段执勤雅安日报讯在刚刚过去的中秋节小长假中,名山县公安局交警大队的民警发扬连续作战的作风,在刚刚结束近半个月的国道108线保畅工作后,又投入到中秋小长假的道路交通保畅工作中。因连 ...[详细]
Understanding Relational vs. Non
Tinder's Festival Mode lets you find people going to the same shows
- Best Labor Day headphones deals: Apple, Bose, Beats, and more on sale
- Facebook's new deepfake ban comes with a politician
- [Breaking] S. Korean President Moon convenes NSC meeting on NK's missile launch
- Twitter will test reply limiting feature to beat back trolls
- How to unblock Xnxx for free
- S. Korea says it fired warning shots at 'balloon' from North
- UNSC strongly condemns NK's latest missile test, warns additional sanctions