Anchor: South Korea and Japan held foreign ministerial talks in Bangkok on Thursday, with Seoul hoping to redirect Japan's intention to remove it from a "whitelist" of preferential trade partners. However, the two sides were unable to strike a last-minute deal, and the delisting appears inevitable.
Our Kim Soyon explains. 

Report: The top diplomats of Seoul and Tokyo held talks for the first time since Japan implemented export restrictions against South Korea on July fourth.

But the two only reaffirmed their differences.

Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha and her Japanese counterpart Taro Kono talked for about an hour Thursday morning in Bangkok on the sidelines of a regional conference.

In a briefing after the meeting, Kang said she spoke of "grave ramifications” on bilateral relations if South Korea is excluded from Japan's so-called whitelist of preferred trading partners, but that the Japanese side was apparently unmoved.

Kang noted that as Japan claims security concerns are the basis for its trade restrictions, Seoul will also need to review various security systems and cooperation agreements with Tokyo.

This may be an allusion to the General Security of Military Information Agreement signed with Tokyo in 2016. The military information sharing pact is set to renew for another year on August 24 unless either side expresses an intent to abrogate it.

She also told Japan that coming up with a solution to the issue of compensation for Japan's wartime forced labor requires time.

During the Kang-Kono meeting, Japan reportedly reiterated its claim that security concerns prompted the export restrictions. Japan also held a briefing after the talks but said only that the two sides agreed to closely communicate through diplomatic channels.

A ministry official present at the meeting said that Japan’s recalcitrance on Thursday suggests that it will likely move forward with South Korea’s removal from its trading partner whitelist.

Meanwhile, a trilateral meeting between Kang, Kono and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is scheduled in Bangkok Friday.

Pompeo earlier said that he will encourage the two Asian allies to "find a path forward." Whether Washington will successfully play a mediating role remains to be seen.
Kim Soyon, KBS World Radio News