TOKYO, July 12 (Xinhua) -- Officials from Japan and South Korea held working-level talks in Tokyo on Friday about tighter export controls Japan has imposed since last week on some high-tech materials.
Japan maintained that the tighter controls on some tech-related materials being exported to South Korea are based on issues of national security.
Seoul, meanwhile, called the tightening of controls a retaliatory move by Tokyo connected to an ongoing wartime labor dispute.
Japan's top government spokesperson Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga on Friday told a press briefing on the matter that the working-level talks were not intended to include negotiations on the issue.
Under the new restrictions, Japanese manufacturers will have to file individual applications for exports to South Korea of fluorinated polyimide, resist and hydrogen fluoride that are often used in high-tech products like smartphones and TV displays, as well as semiconductors, mainstays of South Korea's economy.
South Korea maintained that Japan's move runs contrary to the spirit of fair trade.
Suga previously stated that the Japanese government was prepared to respond to questions from South Korea's export control authorities, as they sought to check the facts on the issue, although Japan has said it has no plans to withdraw the steps it has taken.
