Japan, S.Korea to begin talks over dispute at WTO

Senior officials from Japan and South Korea will start talks in a bid to resolve their trade dispute under the framework of the World Trade Organization on Friday.

The consultations will take place in Geneva, Switzerland. Last month Seoul launched a WTO dispute settlement procedure over Tokyo's tightened export controls on three high-tech materials.

Bilateral consultations by the governments concerned are the first stage of such a procedure.

The meeting will bring together the director-general of the Japanese trade ministry's Multilateral Trade System Department, Junichiro Kuroda, and his South Korean counterpart Chung Hae-kwan.

Japan began implementing the tighter export screening in July. Tokyo says the measure does not violate WTO rules and resulted from a domestic operational review intended to ensure proper export management.

But Seoul says the tighter controls are politically motivated, discriminatory, and in violation of WTO rules.

Analysts say the two sides are unlikely to find common ground in the consultations as they are expected to maintain their respective stances.

If the two countries fail to settle their dispute in the talks, the WTO will form a panel as early as next month to arbitrate the case.

Source: NHKWorld