President Moon Jae-in held a meeting with Cabinet ministers over Japan's expected move on Friday to eliminate South Korea from its so-called whitelist of preferential trade partners.

In a written briefing, presidential spokeswoman Ko Min-jung said the meeting on Thursday started at 10:30 a.m. and lasted for two hours and 15 minutes.

Ko said that President Moon received a briefing on the situation related to Japan's export restrictions and inspected the current circumstances.

The meeting's participants included the prime minister and the ministers of finance, industry and defense as well as the first vice foreign minister.

The presidential chief of staff, national security adviser and the presidential policy chief also attended along with presidential secretaries for the economy, political affairs and public relations.

On Friday, Japan's Cabinet is expected to approve a bill to drop South Korea from its list of countries granted preferential trading status.