| Participation of ministers including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, Ministry of Environment, and Ministry of SMEs and Startups
| Shortening the chemical substance approval period required for R&D
Efforts to include the materials, components, and equipment industries in the supplementary budget

A ministerial meeting was held on Friday to respond to Japan's export restrictions.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Strategy and Finance Hong Nam-ki held a meeting of ministers on responding to Japan's export restrictions at the government complex in Seoul on the 19th.

The meeting was attended by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Trade, Industry and Energy, Environment, Employment and Labor, and SMEs and Startups, the Chairman of the Financial Services Commission, the Director of the Office for Government Policy Coordination, the Chief of the Trade Negotiation Headquarters, the Commissioner of the Korea Customs Service, the Director of the Science and Technology Innovation Headquarters of the Ministry of Science and ICT, and the Senior Secretary to the President for Economic Affairs.

The government decided to closely share trends related to Japan's export restrictions among relevant ministries through the same conference body, while closely examining the necessary measures and response status to minimize potential damage to our companies as the situation unfolds.

The meeting comprehensively reviewed the current situation, potential future developments, and short-term, fundamental response directions related to Japan's measures, and discussed and decided on the following matters:

The government has decided to maintain the spirit and principles of existing laws and systems, but to establish temporary and limited measures under certain conditions to alleviate the difficulties faced by our companies.
> First, we decided to pursue a plan to shorten the approval period for chemical substances only for essential areas such as R&D for product development, and to support the rapid launch of new chemical substances when necessary.

In addition, we will actively consider recognizing special overtime work in cases where overtime is unavoidable, such as for rapid verification testing for urgent domestic production. We also plan to provide guidelines related to discretionary work by the end of July to encourage the active use of discretionary work systems for R&D personnel and others. This will be limited to companies identified by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy as being subject to Japanese export restrictions.

In addition, ▲we plan to receive complaints from companies at risk of damage through policy finance institutions and prepare necessary financial support measures.

In addition, with regard to alleviating our industry's dependence on Japan and seeking ways to enhance fundamental competitiveness, we decided to pursue the following:

First, ▲we decided to make efforts during the National Assembly deliberation process to secure as much support budget as possible for the materials, parts, and equipment industries in this supplementary budget.

▲ It was also decided to reflect the exemption from preliminary feasibility study and the 2020 budget in key research and development projects requiring rapid technological development.

In addition, the application of tax credits for new growth R&D expenses will be expanded to technologies related to core materials, parts, and equipment, such as high-purity hydrogen fluoride manufacturing technology.

The meeting also reviewed the relevant situation and response measures, focusing on major items that could be affected in the event that our country is removed from the whitelist.