S.KOREA SAYS JAPAN COMPLAINS TO GATT ON TRADE PLAN

  Japan has complained to the secretariat
  of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) that South
  Korea's five-year plan to cut its trade deficit with Japan
  breaks GATT rules, Trade Ministry officials here said.
      They said Japan submitted a report earlier this month
  alleging South Korea's plan to import less from Japan and more
  from the U.S. And elsewhere was tantamount to creating
  non-tariff trade barriers.
      South Korea unveiled the plan in November. It said it hoped
  to narrow its trade deficit with Japan to two billion dlrs by
  1991.
      South Korea's trade deficit with Japan was a record 5.45
  billion dlrs in 1986, and rose to 752 mln dlrs in the first two
  months of 1987 from 727 mln in the same 1986 period.
      The plan envisages giving incentives to importers not to
  import Japanese goods, and to exporters to sell more to Japan.
      The officials said they believed the Japanese action, one
  step short of filing a suit, was designed to bring South Korea
  to the negotiating table and stop the plan.
      The Seoul government wants Tokyo to ease various import
  restrictions and simplify customs inspections for South Korean
  goods to help reduce the trade deficit.
  

