South Korea won an exemption from the United States' expanded export restrictions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, Seoul's industry ministry announced on Friday.
The announcement came after South Korea's Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo met with senior U.S. officials in Washington on Thursday. The two parties agreed to include South Korea in the U.S.' list of exempted countries.
Yeo welcomed Washington's decision to exempt South Korea from the FDPR, adding that the countries "have once again reaffirmed their strong cooperation."
Moreover, the U.S. has agreed to publish Seoul's exemption from the FDPR in its government notice on Friday (Washington time) at the earliest, according to the trade minister.
Meantime, South Korea is included on the list of 33 nations, which includes the European Union, Britain and Japan.
"The U.S. assessed that South Korea's sanctions against Russia are well-aligned with the international standard and announced its decision to put South Korea on the list of FDPR exempt nations," the industry ministry said in a release.
Accordingly, the Seoul government is now discussing measures of toughening its own export restrictions against Russia.
It decided to ban exports to 49 Russian organizations and firms, including Russia's defense ministry, in accordance with the U.S.' Entity List for export controls, Yonhap News Agency reported.
"The revision is supposed to take around two to three months, but we will expedite related procedures to wrap it up within one to two months, given relations with the U.S.," a ministry official said.
The foreign ministry said Seoul and Washington will continue close consultations on the implementation of sanctions against Moscow.
"South Korea and the U.S. will continue to closely discuss various diplomatic and economic measures for a resolution to the Ukraine crisis, including the implementation of sanctions against Russia," a ministry official told reporters on the customary condition of anonymity.
Follow the latest news on Google News
