South Korea and China have launched follow-up negotiations on the service and investment sectors for their bilateral Free Trade Agreement(FTA).

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said that the two sides on Thursday began the first round of follow-up talks in downtown Seoul.

The South Korean delegation is led by Kim Young-sam, a deputy minister of trade and investment, while China is represented by vice commerce minister Wang Shouwen.

The two nations implemented the FTA, which is focused on lowering tariffs on goods, in December 2015 and recently agreed to hold negotiations to upgrade the trade deal.

During the first talks, the two sides will discuss basic principles and schedules of the negotiations and exchange their views on issues of interest, before moving on to market access and investor protection measures in subsequent dialogue.