A Comparative Study of ROK and U.S. Export Control System

Foreign trade policy has had two aspects. On the one hand, there has been the overarching pursuit of free trade; on the other hand, the country has maintained a strong system of export controls, largely for strategic purposes. Export controls refer to government regulations that restrict the transfer of goods and services that are both commercial and military in scope to foreign entity or foreigner. Since the end of the Cold War, the concern about free exports has been increasing as global diffusion of technology is increasing, technological military importance of commercial technologies is increasing, and suppliers of high-techs are increasing. Although there are multilateral arrangements for export controls, any of them does not have decision authority over specific transfer. Instead each country regulates exports through its own legislation. The mission of this study is to compare the export control systems across two states, ROK and US, and examine why the two systems are so different. The comparison searches for the application of the elements of an export control system defined by the SIPRI Export Control Project and examines the reasons why the two national export control systems are different. This study concludes with brief policy recommendations for better export control system for the two countries.