Japan, S Korea to resume EPA talks

[ShintoCanadianmale]

Japan, S Korea to resume EPA talks

Japan and South Korea will hold a working-level meeting next week to resume Economic Partnership Agreement talks for the 1st time in more than 3 years.

South Korea's foreign ministry says officials from the 2 countries will meet next Wednesday in Tokyo to discuss the resumption of the talks, which aim to promote bilateral trade and investment.

The South Korean government takes a positive attitude toward signing such an agreement with Japan from the viewpoint of rebuilding its economy.

The top leaders of the 2 countries had agreed to hold the working-level talks during their meeting in April.

The discussions have been suspended since the 6th round of talks in November 2004, due to differences in handling agricultural and industrial products as well as historical issues.

NHK's correspondent in Seoul says that it will take some time to resume the talks, as South Korea has been clinging to its stance that Japan should first take some steps to reduce South Korea's trade deficit with Japan, which was 30 billion dollars last year.

2008/06/18 21:21

NHK WORLD English