Seoul, Tokyo to hold high-level talks over bilateral trade row in late Dec.

On Thursday, working-level trade officials from South Korea and Japan met in Seoul, apparently to discuss the schedule and agenda for director-general level talks.

“Through the meeting, the two countries agreed to meet in Tokyo around the third week of December on export policies,” South Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said in a statement.

“During the December meeting, the two countries plan to exchange opinions on various domestic and external situations related to export control,” it added.

The two also agreed to hold a preparation meeting in Vienna on Wednesday for the director-general level gathering.

Japan implemented restrictions on exporting three key industrial materials vital for South Korea’s chip and display industries in July, and later stripped its Asian neighbor from its list of trusted trading partners.

The Seoul government views the measures as economic retaliation against the country’s Supreme Court ruling that ordered compensation for Koreans forced into labor during Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.

Japan, however, claims that its measures came in response to South Korea’s alleged lax trade control of strategic goods, although it never provided evidence to back up the claim.

South Korea earlier filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO) over Japan’s export restrictions on key industrial materials.

Seoul, however, recently decided to suspend the ongoing legal dispute process at the WTO, which has been facing a deadlock, as the country decided to “conditionally” suspend the termination of the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) with Japan.