There's a massive trade war brewing between South Korea and Japan, the culmination of decades of mistrust and political tensions.

It was triggered on July 1, when Tokyo placed export restrictions on three key materials that South Korea needs to make semiconductors and display screens.

Many South Koreans have threatened to boycott Japanese beer and films. Some gas-station owners are even refusing to refuel Japanese cars.

South Korea plans to report Japan to the World Trade Organization.

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South Korean gas stations are refusing to refuel Japanese cars in the latest escalation of the two countries' new trade war, which comes after decades of political and economic tensions.

Those tensions exploded to the surface on July 1, when Japan placed export restrictions on three key high-tech materials — fluorinated polyimide, photoresists, and hydrogen fluoride — that South Korea relies on to make semiconductors and display screens for its booming electronics industry.

Tokyo also plans to remove Seoul from a so-called white list of nations that face minimum trade restrictions.

One of Samsung's new products is a 219-inch TV called "The Wall," which uses display technology known as microLED. Production of this TV could be affected by Japan and South Korea's trade dispute. Samsung

Sung Yoon-mo, South Korea's industry minister, told reporters on Wednesday, according to Reuters: "It is a very grave matter that shakes the foundation of South Korea-Japan economic partnership and Northeast Asian security cooperation that has been maintained and developed for more than 60 years."

Sung added: "Removal of South Korea from the white list of countries is against international norms and we are worried about its serious negative impact on global value chains and free trade."

Similarly, Yoshihide Suga, Japan's top government spokesman, said on Wednesday, per Reuters, that "Japan-South Korea relations are now in a very severe state."

South Korean President Moon Jae-in earlier this month called the new trade restrictions an "unprecedented emergency" and accused Tokyo of imposing them for political gain.

He also warned dozens of executives from companies including Samsung, Hyundai, and Lotte that this trade war could last a long time, Bloomberg reported.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in May and South Korean President Moon Jae-in in February 2018. Jonathan Ernst/Reuters; Jae C. Hong/AP

Japanese and South Korean officials met for five hours on July 12 in an effort to ease tensions but failed to achieve a breakthrough, The Japan Times reported.

US President Donald Trump last Friday offered to help end the impasse, Reuters reported, but the US has not intervened.

Seoul now plans to report Tokyo to the World Trade Organization at meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday and says it is considering suing Japan to allege unfair trading practices, The Japan Times said.

Tokyo denies those allegations and says any wrongdoing is Seoul's.

South Korean and Japanese delegates at the World Trade Organization General Council meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, on Wednesday. Denis Balibouse/Reuters

Car owners, beer drinkers, and anime fans affected

Many South Koreans have since vowed to boycott Japanese products and called on gas-station operators to stop refueling Japanese cars, The Korea Times reported on Tuesday.

Some have complied, with one telling the newspaper that whenever he saw a Japanese car he saw "a Japanese flag."

Some auto-service centers have also formed an alliance to refuse serving Japanese autos, the newspaper said.

Observers say, however, that these boycotts are just harming Koreans rather than the Japanese government.

"The victim of the gas stations refusing to fill up Japanese cars isn't the Japanese government but the car owners," The Korea Times quoted the South Korean online news outlet E Today as saying.

"If people don't use gas stations, the victim is not the Japanese government but the gas station owners," it added.

A woman clad in a yukata, or a casual summer kimono, pulls Asahi Breweries' Super Dry beer in Tokyo in July 2013. REUTERS/Issei Kato

South Koreans have also bought less Japanese beer, booked fewer trips to Japan, and even refused to watch Japanese movies, South Korea's Hankyoreh newspaper reported.

Emart, South Korea's biggest retailer, said sales of Japanese beer between July 1 and 18 were 30% lower year on year, The Hankyoreh reported.

"Butt Detective: The Movie," a Japanese anime film based on a series popular in South Korea, also suffered at the box office after its July 11 release, The Hankyoreh reported. It received multiple negative reviews, many of which said Koreans shouldn't watch Japanese films, the report said.

Last week, a 78-year-old South Korean man died after he set himself on fire outside the Japanese Embassy in Seoul. An officer told Agence France-Presse that he had said he was doing so because of his "hostility against Japan."

The Japanese anime film "Butt Detective: The Movie" suffered at the South Korean box office amid the two countries' trade dispute. The film is about a detective whose head is shaped like a butt. Toei Animation/YouTube

100-year-long tensions bubbling under the surface

The two countries have had an uneasy relationship since 1910, when Japan forcefully colonized the Korean Peninsula — which at the time was still unified — and ruled it with an iron fist.

During World War II, Japan, still controlling Korea, forced millions of Koreans to become laborers to support Japan's military ambitions and conscripted tens of thousands of people.

People carrying the portraits of Korean "comfort women" in Seoul. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji

Though Tokyo and Seoul normalized diplomatic relations in 1965, their relationship remained uneasy.

After a South Korean court last year ordered Japanese firms to compensate Koreans who were forced into wartime labor, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries refused to comply, viewing it as an erosion of trust between the two countries.

The Japanese government says the 1965 treaty settled all colonial-era debts, while many people in South Korea argue they had no choice but to accept it at the time, Tom Le, a professor at Pomona College, wrote in The Washington Post on Tuesday.