South Korea has lashed out against Japan over its trade curbs on Seoul.
It accused Tokyo of "diplomatic retaliation,"... during a highly-charged WTO General Council meeting on Wednesday in Geneva.
However, Japan criticized Seoul's complaints,... claiming its export restrictions are purely for national security purposes.
Kim Hyo-sun tells us more.
Amid rising trade tensions between South Korea and Japan,... Seoul has called upon Tokyo to start the dialogue process.
Addressing the General Council of the WTO on Wednesday,... Kim Seung-ho , South Korea's deputy trade minister slammed Japan's export curbs, calling them a (quote) "diplomatic retaliation."
Kim also laid out how Tokyo's restrictions will have a negative impact on other countries as well as individual consumers.
Instead of elaborating based on specific legal evidence,... his remarks appeared to be aimed at pressuring Tokyo to come to the table for talks.
His strategy seemed to take into account the possibility of Seoul suing Tokyo at the WTO dispute settlement body,... as providing too much information could give Japan the upper hand in such a situation.
After the meeting, Kim told reporters he offered to hold high-level bilateral talks,... but Tokyo rejected the offer.

"Japan's ambassador evaded to give us a concrete answer. So I asked again they respond to my proposed offer but he flatly turned it down without giving me any plausible reasons."

During the closed-door meeting,... Japan rejected Seoul's complaints,... claiming Tokyo's moves were necessary for national security purposes.

"I just emphasized that the measure taken by Japan is not a trade embargo, it's not a counter measure against any trade related issue. It is about the measure taken on the basis of export control."

Despite the firey clashes... other WTO member-states, including the U.S.,... refrained from publicly expressing their opinions on the matter.
Kim Hyo-sun, Arirang News.