Anchor: Japanese exports to South Korea have dropped off significantly after Tokyo imposed trade restrictions on Seoul. Prompted by a consumer boycott, Japan's tourism industry also appears to be taking a hit with the number of South Korean tourists nearly halving in the summer travel month of August.
Celina Yoon has more.

Report: The South Korean government reported on Friday that Tokyo's exports to Seoul of semiconductor equipment have dropped 32-point-six percent since Japan announced related trade restrictions on July 1. 

As a result, Japan's total shipments to South Korea fell six-point-nine percent in July and eight-point-two percent in August.

South Korea had earlier been responsible for some 90 percent of Japan's total hydrogen fluoride exports, but South Korea-bound shipments of the tech material plunged 83-point-seven percent in July.

The drop follows Japanese export curbs levied on three key semiconductor and display materials -- hydrogen fluoride, fluorinated polyimide and photoresists -- in July and the removal of South Korea from a shortlist of preferred trading partners in August.

The moves are widely understood to be retaliation for the Supreme Court greenlighting of colonial-era grievance claims by individual South Koreans against Japanese companies last year.

Japan's actions have led to a consumer boycott of Japanese products in South Korea. Some imports, such as beer, plunged as much as 97 percent in August on-year, and Japanese car sales are also floundering.

As many South Koreans have also refrained from traveling to Japan, the number of South Korean visitors to the neighboring country dropped by 48 percent in August compared to a year ago.

Japanese media outlets have run reports highlighting worries about the domestic tourism industry. 

Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, however, downplayed the concerns, saying visitors from other areas like the U.S., China and Southeast Asia have grown by double digits.
Celina Yoon, KBS World Radio News.