South Korean Chief Negotiator Starts Trip To Geneva For Trade Talks With Japan - Reports

Chung Hae-kwan, a director-general in charge of multilateral and legal affairs at the South Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, on Monday left for Geneva for talks with Japan over the ongoing trade row between the countries, media reported

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 18th November, 2019) Chung Hae-kwan, a director-general in charge of multilateral and legal affairs at the South Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, on Monday left for Geneva for talks with Japan over the ongoing trade row between the countries, media reported.

The meeting will take place on Tuesday, and the Japanese side will be represented by Junichiro Kuroda, the chief of the Multilateral Trade System Department of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry's Trade Policy Bureau, the Yonhap news agency reported.

The talks will be the second round of which involve settling the Seoul-Tokyo trade dispute, under the auspices of the World Trade Organization.

The first round of talks was held on October 11.

The trade spat between the two countries erupted as Japan canceled preferential treatment for the exports of chemicals used for electronic equipment production, dealing a powerful blow to South Korea's economy. The move is believed to be related to Japan's plans to sell assets of Japanese companies, ordered by a South Korean court to provide compensations to the victims of forced labor during the Japanese colonization of the Korean Peninsula from 1910-1945.