Japan likely to pass bill striking S. Korea off export whitelist: ministry

SEOUL, July 30 (Yonhap) -- Japan is highly likely to pass a bill later this week to remove South Korea from its "whitelist" of trusted trade partners, the foreign ministry said Tuesday, in what would be an additional economic retaliatory measure in a row over wartime forced labor. "The bill is expected to be passed at a Cabinet meeting and undergo procedures ... before it comes into effect in late August," the ministry said in a report submitted to the National Assembly. On July 4, Japan imposed tighter restrictions on exports to South Korea of three key chemicals vital to manufacturing memory chips and displays, in apparent retaliation for last year's South Korean Supreme Court rulings ordering Japanese firms to compensate forced labor victims. Japan has strongly protested the rulings, arguing that all reparation issues were settled by a 1965 accord that normalized the bilateral relations. The foreign ministry said it will continue to call for Tokyo to resolve the matter through diplomacy and also urge the neighboring country to withdraw all the measures against Seoul. The ministry said it plans to deliver a message to Tokyo highlighting the unfairness of its move to exclude Seoul from the whitelist and expressing deep regret, if it approves the bill. Diplomatic sources predict Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha and her Japanese counterpart Taro Kono could hold talks either on Aug 1 or 2, on the margins of the ASEAN Regional Forum to be held in Thailand later this week. elly@yna.co.kr (END)