Japan–South Korea trade dispute

Japan–South Korea trade dispute,
Japan–South Korea economic war (in South Korea),
Japanese economic retaliation (in South Korea)
Japan–South Korea trade dispute,; Japan–South Korea economic war (in South Korea),; Japanese economic retaliation (in South Korea)
Japanese name
Kanji	日韓貿易紛争 or 日韓対立
Hiragana	にっかんぼうえきふんそう or; にっかんたいりつ
Romanization
Transcriptions
Romanization	Nikkan bōeki funsō or Nikkan keizai sensō
Korean name
Hangul	한일 무역 분쟁; 한일 경제 전쟁; 일본 경제 보복
Hanja	韓日貿易紛爭; 韓日經濟戰爭; 日本經濟報復
Revised Romanization
Transcriptions
Revised Romanization	Hanil muyeok bunjaeng; Hanil gyeongje jeonjaeng; Ilbon gyeongje bobok

2019–2023 Japan–South Korea trade dispute
2019–2023 Japan–South Korea trade dispute
Part of Japan–South Korea relations and Japan–Korea disputes
	"Boycott Japan" sticker on shop in Mokpo, South Korea
Date	July 1, 2019 – March 23, 2023
Location	Japan and South Korea
Resulted in	Resolved Significant deterioration in Japan–South Korea relations in 2019; Japan and South Korea remove each other from the trade "whitelist" in 2019; Japan and South Korea restore relations and add each other back to their trade "whitelist" in 2023;
Parties
South Korea	Japan

The Japan–South Korea trade dispute, also known as the Japan–South Korea economic war, was an economic conflict between Japan and South Korea.

There are different cited causes behind the conflict. The Japanese government removed South Korea from the "white list" for preferential trading in July 2019, as a response to alleged South Korean violations of United Nations prohibitions against exporting certain materials to North Korea. It later officially argued that the conflict was caused by the South Korean government noncompliance with export controls and regulations to prevent resale of strategic goods, and ignoring the Japanese government's request to hold export control talks for three years. However, the conflict was regarded as retaliation to the Supreme Court of South Korea's decisions regarding compensation by the South Korean government. The South Korean government has also denied any claims of mismanagement by the Japanese government.

Several external observers have stated that the current tensions are a reflection of or are responses to various historical grievances from Japan's occupation of the Korean peninsula and from recent regional flash points, such as relations with North Korea and China.

The trade dispute had caused a significant deterioration in Japan–South Korea relations to the lowest point since the two countries normalized their diplomatic relations in 1965.