As of July 4, 2019, the Abe administration in Japan began imposing export controls on materials used in smartphones and semiconductors to South Korea. South Korean technology firms such as Samsung will be hit the hardest by such measures. Local news sources indicate that the sanctions were carried out as retaliation for South Korean courts’ rulings that Japanese companies in South Korea can be targeted for compensation in response to Korean workers’ wartime labor. The Japanese government has also argued that exported materials may have been diverted to North Korea. Tokyo is currently seeking to remove South Korea from its “white list” of countries that are exempt from trade restrictions. In response to the sanctions, there are petitions in South Korea to retaliate against Japan and boycott Japanese goods.
