Japan will reinstate South Korea on Friday to its list of countries with preferential trade status which allows simplified export procedures.

The Japanese government will restore South Korea's preferential trade partner status for the first time since August 2019.

The government excluded South Korea, citing deficiencies in the country's trade control system in 2019.

The government in that year also tightened export controls to South Korea for three materials used in products such as semiconductors. Tokyo lifted the strict controls in March.

The preferential status enables most of the items that had been subject to strict controls to be exempt from export permits required per contract.

The items include machine tools, which are believed to be at high risk of being diverted for military use.

Earlier this month, Tokyo and Seoul signed a memorandum to hold director-level policy talks periodically on their export control systems.

They said that if an appropriate situation is discovered, both sides will hold such a dialogue and decide on what actions should be taken.