[ad_1]
PHOTO FILE: A police officer stands guard near the national flags of Japan and South Korea at the hotel in Tokyo on June 22, 2015. REUTERS / Toru Hanai
SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea is badessing the risk of conflict with Japan over the forced spread of war work in the financial sector, including loans and investments from Japanese institutions, the financial regulator said.
Last week, Japan imposed tougher restrictions on exports of high-tech materials to South Korea for the production of smartphones screens and memory chips. The action triggered calls in South Korea for a boycott of Japanese products.
On Friday, the chairman of the Financial Services Commission of South Korea asked reporters whether the dispute could affect investments and loans from Japanese institutions.
"I do not know what other steps there are to take for Japan, but the ministries are checking the situation in this regard," said Choi Jong-ku in a statement that he was not allowed to be published before Sunday.
In the worst case, Japanese lenders may refuse to postpone their maturing debt or stop granting new loans, Choi said.
"The probability of such a situation can not be determined, but there will be no big problem," said Choi.
The issue of forced labor in wartime is the last turning point in a relationship long overshadowed by South Korean resentment of Japan's occupation of the Korean peninsula from 1910 to 1945.
Report by Hayoung Choi; Edited by Choonsik Yoo and Darren Schuettler
Source link
