Japan asks to analyze whether Seoul meets standards to join CPTPP

The Government of Japan today pointed out the need to analyze whether South Korea meets the standards to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Treaty of Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), after Seoul announced its intention to adhere to the trade pact.

“The first necessary step is to check whether an economy seeking to join the pact is fully prepared to meet the high standards of the CPTPP.”Said today at a press conference the spokesman for the Japanese Executive, Hirozaku Matsuno, when asked at a press conference about the issue.

“We will continue to follow developments related to economies interested in joining the pact, and we will respond taking into account our strategic point of view.”Added the spokesperson.

South Korean Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki announced on Monday that Seoul “is trying to gather public opinions and social debate around joining the CPTPP”, And highlighted that the country seeks to join this mechanism to enhance its position in terms of trade and investment.

The cold reaction of the Japanese Executive to the interest shown by the neighboring country differs from the welcome it previously expressed in the face of similar announcements made by the United Kingdom and Taiwan, and is more similar to the caution shown by Tokyo when Beijing also expressed its desire to join the pact.

Bilateral relations between Tokyo and Seoul remain distant in recent years, mainly due to disputes related to the Japanese occupation of the Korean peninsula before World War II.

The CPTPP, which has 11 signatory countries (Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam), is the renegotiated version of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP), which was promoted by the US administration of Barack Obama and later scrapped by that of Donald Trump.