Seoul (AFP)

South Korea on Wednesday blasted Japan after Japan's trade sanctions came into force, accusing Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of acting as an "opponent", while the two countries are strategic allies of the United States.

The relations between the two neighbors continue to deteriorate, against the backdrop of old disputes inherited from the Japanese colonial past on the Korean peninsula (1910-1945).

The quarrel has escalated sharply in recent weeks after South Korean courts ordered Japanese companies to compensate South Koreans who had been forced to work in their factories during the Japanese occupation until the end of the war. end of the Second World War.

Tokyo retaliated on August 2 by deciding to remove South Korea from a list of special-status states, a measure that came into effect on Wednesday. Seoul said it wants to take a similar action in return.

"Prime Minister Abe has said twice that we can not trust Korea and treat us as an adversary," said Kim Hyun-chong, a senior national security official with the "Blue House". , the South Korean presidency.

South Korea announced last Thursday that it wanted to break an existing military intelligence-sharing agreement with Japan, known as GSOMIA, raising concern in Washington that has forged military alliances with both sides. country.

Kim, however, reiterated Wednesday that this decision would not lead to a "crack" in the alliance with the United States.

At the same time, the South Korean Foreign Ministry has summoned the Japanese ambassador to protest against Seoul's exclusion from the "white list" of partners receiving preferential treatment in commercial relations.

Specifically, Tokyo has degraded South Korea from the category of States A (exempted from authorization procedures to purchase sensitive products from Japanese manufacturers) to that of B States (compulsory special authorization).

Japan means that its neighbor is not reliable and it must be made sure before exporting that it will not use for diverted purposes (military in particular) materials and equipment from Japan.

Japan had already decided in early July to lift the procedural exemption for three chemicals needed, among other things, for the manufacture of smartphones and televisions, a decision that is very penalizing for South Korean electronics giants Samsung and LG Electronics.

© 2019 AFP