South Korea and Japan to Have Talks on Export Curbs Next Month

The South Korean and Japanese governments will have another round of talks related to the latter’s export curbs next month. The Seoul government is going to request the WTO to set up a panel for dispute settlement if the talks fail to reach an agreement.

The Ministry of Economy and Finance of South Korea held a ministerial meeting on the issue on Oct. 31. The meeting was presided over by Deputy Prime Minister Hong Nam-ki and the ministry announced the plans after the meeting.

Also, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced that the second round of talks will take place next month. The two governments held their first negotiations on the issue on Oct. 11 but failed to reach an agreement.

The formation of the WTO panel can be requested when no agreement is reached within 60 days from the reception of a written request for bilateral consultations. The review process of the panel including a third country is completed within six months and the process is completed within three months in the case of an urgent issue. Once the report of the panel is adopted, a losing country must report an implementation plan related to the decision of the dispute settlement body of the WTO.