TOKYO: The Japanese and South Korean governments announced Friday that they will hold a bureau chief-level policy dialogue concerning Japan's tightened export controls on South Korea in the third week of December in Tokyo.

The two sides will exchange opinions on their respective trade management regimes and seek to reach a settlement on the dispute in a bid to mend their soured ties in the run-up to an expected summit between Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and South Korean President Moon Jae-in in late December.

It would be the first Tokyo-Seoul policy dialogue since summer 2016. A preparatory meeting between bureau chief-level officials from both countries will be held in Vienna on Wednesday.

Japan's trade ministry tightened controls on exports of semiconductor materials to South Korea in July, after talks stalled between the two Asian neighbors and the ministry found potential flaws in Seoul's trade management regime. Japan also removed South Korea from its list of trusted trading partners qualified for preferential treatment in export procedures in August.

"We'll hold discussions on the assumption that we'll move for the better on all issues," Japanese trade minister Hiroshi Kajiyama said at a press conference on Friday, suggesting that all of the Japanese trade measures against South Korea and Seoul's trade management system will be taken up at the policy dialogue.

At a press conference in Seoul the same day, a senior South Korean official expressed a desire to put maximum effort into convincing Japan to scrap its tightened control measures.

On Nov. 22, South Korea announced its decision to keep the two countries' General Security of Military Information Agreement, or GSOMIA, in place for the time being, canceling its earlier decision to scrap the key bilateral pact. Also on the day, the two countries decided to restart policy dialogue on trade controls.

Japan's trade ministry and the South Korean side held a division chief-level preparatory meeting on Thursday to discuss the date and agenda for the dialogue.

JIJI Press