South Korea's Trade Minister Joo Hyung-hwan on Sunday vowed to give a fitting response if China does not back off from its unfair trade practices against the Korean companies. The minister was reacting to reports of China's recent so called economic sanctions against the Lotte Group and several other popular South Korean symbols in China.

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"We will act accordingly to international law against any actions that violate policies of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) or the free trade agreement between South Korea and China," Joo said. The trade minister further promised that they would start examining exports to China on a daily basis and would take action as quickly as possible if the South Korean exporters are subjected to unfair trade practices.

China is the largest trading partner of South Korea, with last week's trade data clearly showing that Korea's February export to China was the highest since the year 2010. The data showed that last month's export performance was driven by sales of intermediate goods such as semiconductors and display panels used for electronics manufacturing.  

Most trade analysts say that THAAD-related backlash won't have any significant impact on the Korean shipments at least in short term as most of the shipments constitute of intermediate goods, which China uses to manufacture finished products and export to other countries.

The South Korean companies as well as its entertainment industry have been under Chinese authorities' radar ever since Seoul and the US gave a go ahead to the THAAD deployment in the Korean peninsula.

The South Korean conglomerate Lotte Group, which is at the heart of the on-going THAAD tension, faced the first sanction as early as December, after Chinese authorities raided some of its properties in the country for alleged health and tax violations. Simultaneously, the Korean dramas and K-pop artists started facing the heat as they saw their shows being banned and concerts getting cancelled.

In the latest retaliatory measure, China's National Tourism Administration last week reportedly ordered several travel agencies to stop selling South Korean tour packages. The decision came barely days after the Lotte group agreed to lease its golf course land to the South Korean government.

The THAAD missile has been a sensitive issue between the two countries ever since North Korea resumed its controversial missile program following the collapse of talks. Beijing argues that the presence of the U.S anti missile system would heavily compromise the regional security, but Seoul maintains that missile deployment is necessary to defend itself in the wake of any possible aggression by Pyongyang.

Tagschina, South Korea, China and South Korea, THAAD missile system