1. Delegates from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy attended the Fall General Working Group (GWG) meeting of the Wassenaar Arrangement, as heads of the ROK delegation, held in Vienna, the Republic of Austria, on October 23-24.

○ The ROK delegation pledged to continue its contribution to advancing the Wassenaar Arrangement (WA) as an exemplary member of the international export control regime; introduced the ROK government’s efforts and achievements of its export control; and presented views on the WA’s way forward.

2. On the occasion of the meeting, the representatives of the participating countries commended the ROK’s outstanding export control regime and expressed interest in the ROK’s export control policy and the current status of operation.

○ At the meeting, in his remarks, Lee Hohyeon, Director-General for International Trade Policy Bureau of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, explained that countries, including the ROK, are carrying out diverse whitelist measures and highlighted that complying with the principle and spirit of the WA’s Initial Elements is particularly important for managing such measures.

- In particular, he underscored the need for maintaining harmony and balance between the two principles in order to achieve the WA’s goals directed at preventing illicit export of strategic items including dual-use goods, while not impeding bona fide civil transactions at the same time.

- In addition, Director-General Lee mentioned the need for making utmost efforts to enhance the transparency of operating their export control regimes including exchanging information with relevant countries in advance if a country changes its export control regime, and asked for the participating states’ interest in such endeavors.

○ The ROK delegation introduced this year’s outreach activities led by the ROK government such as the Trade and Security 2019, hosted by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (July 3); the International Defense Technology Security Conference (June 20), hosted by the Defense Acquisition Program Administration; and bilateral consultations with the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Republic of Uzbekistan, hosted by the Korean Security Agency of Trade and Industry. In addition, the delegation shared the ROK’s outreach activity plans to be carried out in 2020.

3. On the occasion of the meeting, the ROK delegation also met with major participating states of the WA which are taking a leading role in global discussions on export control.

○ During the bilateral consultations, the ROK delegation mentioned that the Japanese export-restrictive measures contravene the WA’s Initial Elements that the Arrangement will not impede bona fide civil transactions.

- The ROK delegation particularly added that Japan’s measures on three items such as semiconductors and display products are export restrictive and discriminatory actions that impose excessive regulations solely on the ROK. In this regard, the ROK government filed a suit against the Japanese export restrictive measures through the World Trade Organization (WTO) in September 2019.

○ The ROK delegation held a meeting with the representatives of the major countries joining the GWG meeting; shared the outcomes of the investigation on individual countries’ current status of operating whitelist measures; and explained the ROK side’s view on this issue.

- The ROK delegation commented that the whitelist measures provide advantages to reliable countries concerning the approval of strategic goods export with the aim to prevent illicit export of strategic goods while protecting bona fide civil transactions.

- The ROK delegation added that it should be considered that a sudden change in the whitelist measures could have adverse effects on the affected countries; highlighted the need of adequate exchange of information with the affected countries before the measures are altered; and asked for the participating states’ interest in and support for such matters.

- In the end, the ROK delegation explained that the ROK government hopes to contribute to the development of the WA through continued investigations and sharing information on the operation of its whitelist measures.