US, South Korea Launch Export Control Working Group

The U.S. and South Korea launched a new working group this week to better harmonize the countries’ export control decisions and ensure a “level-playing field” for businesses. BIS said it hopes the working group will help both sides identify “specific actions” to “advance export controls cooperation.” The announcement comes about a month after the U.S. issued a range of new semiconductor-related restrictions on exports to China -- controls that the U.S. hopes to convince allies, including South Korea, to also impose (see 2210270047 and 2210070049).

“BIS is committed to aggressively using export controls to protect U.S. national security and believes fully that a multilateral and cooperative approach to export controls yields the most effective results, as we have seen in the context of our response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,” said Thea Kendler, BIS' assistant secretary for export administration. Kendler said BIS is “deeply committed” to cooperating with South Korea.

BIS outlined several objectives for the U.S.-Korea Supply Chain and Commercial Dialogue Dual-use Export Controls Group, including promoting bilateral trade and stabilizing the advanced manufacturing supply chain. The group, which was launched about five months after Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and South Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs Park Jin committed to working closer together on export restrictions (see 2206150036), will also look to promote “convergent control approaches addressing new security challenges” and ensure “efficient stakeholder engagement and support” as the two sides develop new export controls.

The working group will “serve as an effective platform to enhance mutual understanding of [the] export control regulatory system of each side and explore successful ways for" more communication, Moon Dong-min, South Korea’s deputy minister for trade and investment, said in a statement. He said South Korea “appreciates that Korea and the U.S. have maintained close cooperation in various bilateral and multilateral export control discussions.”

BIS has for months been working to establish a new multilateral export control framework with several of its allies, including countries in Asia and Europe (see 2206290032). It remains unclear whether the U.S. is looking to stand up a new, formal regime, such as the Wassenaar Arrangement, which some view as outdated, partly because it includes Russia as a member (see 2205240039 and 2206100021).