South Korea and Japan held regular high-level talks in Seoul Thursday to discuss key bilateral economic issues such as an import ban on Japanese seafood and Tokyo's monetary easing.
Ahn Chong-ghee, deputy foreign minister for economic affairs, headed the South Korean side at the 13th South Korea-Japan high-level economy consultative meeting, with the Japanese side represented by Deputy Foreign Minister Yasumasa Nagamine.
The two neighbors have regularly held the consultative meeting since its inception in 1999. It is the second meeting since President Park Geun-hye took office in February 2013.
During the Thursday meeting, the Japanese side reportedly plans to renew its calls on the South to resume imports of Japanese fishery goods, which have been suspended since the Fukushima nuclear reactor accident in 2011.
Seoul, on its part, is expected to raise issues resulting from Japan's monetary easing and the subsequent weakness of the Japanese yen. It may also voice concerns over compensation suits filed by South Korean forced-labor victims from the Japanese imperialist era against some Japanese companies.
Besides the thorny issues, the neighbors are likely to delve into ways to boost bilateral trade, investment and private-sector cooperation, as well as the conditions of the international economy, according to Seoul officials.
This year's meeting comes amid an unusually icy diplomatic tension between the neighbors. The countries have been at odds for a few years over territorial and other issues stemming from their shared history.
President Park has yet to hold her first one-on-one summit meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, although they have met several times on the international stage. (Yonhap)
