Japan Imposed New Export Controls on S Korea

choi

Motoko Rich, Edward Wong and Choe Sang-Hun, As Trade Conflict Worsens Japan-South Korea Relations, US Takes a Step Back; Using a surface dispute over trade to stoke a century-old rivalry. New York Times, Aug 5, 2019 (front page).

Quote:

(a) "Still, as tensions escalated in recent days, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo attempted on Friday [Aug 2] to orchestrate a reconciliation at an Asian security conference attended [ASEAN Thailand 2019] by regional foreign ministers. A photo from the conference showed Mr Pompeo flinging his arms wide open to the foreign ministers of the two countries , appearing to invite them to come together.  

"The two ministers stayed far apart, however, with Taro Kono, Japan's foreign minister, grimacing, and South Korea's Kang Kyung-hua [yes, it is a lower-case h, making me wonder why the Korean reporter has an upper-case one], turning away, stone-faced.  

(b) "Japan on Friday [Aug 2] expanded controls over exports to South Korea of items ranging from ball bearings to precision machine tools.

"The trade action followed an earlier move tightening controls on exports of chemicals used to make advanced semiconductors and digital flat screens -- some of the most important products to the South Korean economy.

"Seeming to wield trade as political cudgel in the model of Mr Trump, Japan cited unspecified national security concerns and suggested South Korea 'mishandled' items that could be used for military purposes.

Note:
(a)
(i) There is no need to read the rest.
(ii) the online title: "As Japan and South Korea Feud Intensifies, US Seems Unwilling, or Unable, to Help."
(b)
(i) ASEAN Thailand 2019 is hosted by Thailand as
ASEAN Chair.
https://asean.org/asean/asean-chair/
("According to Article 31 of the ASEAN Charter, the Chairmanship of ASEAN shall rotate annually, based on the alphabetical order of the English names of Member States. A Member State assuming the Chairmanship shall chair the ASEAN Summit and related summits, the ASEAN Coordinating Council, the three ASEAN Community Councils, relevant ASEAN Sectoral Ministerial Bodies and senior officials, and the Committee of Permanent Representatives.  Thailand is the Chair of ASEAN for 2019 * * * ")
(ii) ASEAN Summit, undated
https://asean.org/asean/asean-structure/asean-summit/
, whose table shows ASEAN Summit is annual.

So, ASEAN Summit
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASEAN_Summit
("The ASEAN Summit is a biannual meeting held by the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in relation to economic, political, security, and socio-cultural development of Southeast Asian countries. * * * Under the ASEAN Charter, the ASEAN Summit is the supreme policy-making body of ASEAN. It comprises the heads of state or government of each member state. Accordingly, the Chairmanship of ASEAN rotates annually, based on the alphabetical order of the English names of ASEAN member states")
is wrong about the first sentence in the quotation -- to the text that it is a "biannual" meeting, but correct in the last two sentences of the quotation.

(c) About the photo in quotation (a). If one searches images.google.com with (ASEAN thailand Japan korea ministers pompeo), a NYT photo shows up that also appeared in print, whose photo's credit is "Jonathan Ernest/Agence France-Presse -- Getty Images."