Japan's Export Control on S Korea

choi

In chronological order. There is no need to read the rest of text in any of the three reports. S korea has asked US to intervene, to no avail.

(1) "Reporting by Makiko Yamazaki in Tokyo and Heekyong Yang in Seoul; Writing by David Dolan;"  Factbox: The High-Tech Materials at the Heart of a Japan-South Korea Row. Reuters, July 2, 2019
https://www.reuters.com/article/ ... a-row-idUSKCN1TX12I

Quote:

"Japan said it would tighten curbs on exports of high-tech materials used in smartphone displays and chips to South Korea amid a widening dispute over South Koreans who were forced to work for Japanese firms during World War Two.

(b) "The tighter export curbs due to go into effect will target three materials: fluorinated polyimides, photoresists and hydrogen fluoride.

"Fluorinated polyimides are used in smartphone displays. Photoresists are thin layers of material used to transfer circuit patterns onto semiconductor wafers.

"Hydrogen fluoride [HF] is used as an etching gas in the chipmaking process.

"Japan produces about 90% of fluorinated polyimide and about 70% of etching gas worldwide, Japanese media have said. It produces around 90% of photoresists, according to a government report. That makes it difficult for South Korean chipmakers to find alternative sources of supply [regarding the 3 chemicals: China, Taiwan and US produce some, but germany none of the 3].

My comment:
(a) S Korea, in my view, brings the humiliation on itself, by violating
Treaty on Basic Relations between Japan and the Republic of Korea
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tr ... e_Republic_of_Korea
(Japanese (kanji 漢字): 日韓基本条約, Korean (hanja 漢字): 韓日基本條約)

S korea constantly raises issues that were settled in the treaty, including but not limited to (kanji) 慰安婦 (that Japan has denied existence).
(b) Regarding "fluorinated polyimides" or "fluorinated polyamides."
(i) This (Reuters) report mentions "polyimide" whereas the next, "polyamide."
(ii) The "poly" means it is a polymers (made up of the same or different monomers.
(iii) Illustrated Glossary of Organic Chemistry. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. UCLA, undated.
www.chem.ucla.edu/~harding/IGOC/I/imide.html
("General imide structure" -- when R2 is an hydrogen atom in lieu of an acyl group, the imide is called amide)
(iv) The word "fluorinated" simply means there is or are fluorine atom(s) in monomer(s).

(1965; resulting in establishment of diplomatic relations between the two)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tr ... a#Treaty_provisions
(c) photoresist
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photoresist

(2) Killian Bell, Apple Could Add Second OLED Supplier, Kill 3D Touch for 2019 iPhones. Cult of Mac, July 9, 2019
https://www.cultofmac.com/637314 ... pplier-2019-iphone/
("It is thought Apple is worried that recent restrictions placed on exports of fluorinated polyamides — used in the production of OLED panels — from Japan to Korea might 'dampen' production of OLED displays at Samsung.  If Samsung remains Apple's only OLED supplier for the iPhone, any disruption in production could have a huge affect on iPhone orders")

Note: killian
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killian
(given name and surname; "an Anglicized version of the Irish name Cillian. * * * The name is said to derive from Saint Kilian, an Irish missionary to Germany in the 7th century * * * The most likely meaning of the name is 'little church,' a reference to someone prayerful or spiritual, cill meaning 'church' in Gaelic while the suffix '-ín' is used affectionately to indicate a 'pet' or diminutive status")

(3) Lindsay Isaac, Sophie Jeong and Junko Ogura, A Feud Between Japan and South Korea Is Threatening Global Supplies of Memory Chips. CNN, July 11. 2019.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/10/b ... intl-hnk/index.html

Quote:

(a) "The export controls are a massive headache for South Korean firms Samsung and SK Hynix, who between them control over 63% of the global memory chip market, according to the latest figures from the Korea International Trade Association.

"South Korean firms sourced 94% of fluorinated polyamides, 92% of photoresists and about 44% of hydrogen fluoride from Japan In the first quarter of this year, data from the association showed.

(b) "The South Korean Ministry for Trade, Industry and Energy has accused Japan of violating World Trade Organization (WTO) regulations and called for bilateral talks to take place Friday.  

"Kotaro Nogami, Japan's deputy cabinet secretary [内閣官房副長官 野上 浩太郎 Kōtarō NOGAMI, where 'kō' is Chinese pronunciation of kanji 浩], pushed back against these claims, saying there was no indication the restrictions were in violation of WTO rules * * *