South Korean and Japanese government officials held a video conference Tuesday to discuss issues related to Tokyo’s export regulations on local firms -- the first in three months amid worsened bilateral relations.

The meeting was aimed at resolving the restrictions imposed in July on three key materials of chips and display panels made against Korea last year, as well excluding the country from its export control whitelist, according to the Trade Ministry.

The Trade Ministry’s trade policy division chief Lee Ho-yeon and his Japanese counterpart Yoichi Iida discussed pending issues related to export management.

The previous -- seventh -- round of policy dialogue was held in Tokyo on Dec. 16 last year. At the time, the two countries agreed to hold the next meeting in Seoul.

Japan, however, announced a de facto quarantine measure for inbound travelers from Korea on Thursday, citing the spread of the novel coronavirus. The following day, the Trade Ministry said the two sides had agreed to change the export management policy dialogue to a video conference format.

The Korean government said it would urge Japan to retract the export restrictions. At the end of last year, Japan took some deregulation measures for photoresists to change from individual permits to comprehensive permits.

Prior to the meeting, industry watchers remained pessimistic that Japan would accept Korea’s demands with sincerity due to their relations frozen by the mutual entry ban.

Last week, Industry Minister Sung Yoon-mo said at a meeting on Japan’s export controls with related ministers, “All the reasons that Japan cited to impose export restrictions on Korea are being resolved. We urge Japan to take steps to restore the original state prior to July last year.”

Japan has tightened restrictions on exports to Korea of three high-tech materials: fluorinated polyimides, photoresists and hydrogen fluoride. The move was widely speculated to be linked to the Korean Supreme Court’s decision earlier last year to hold Japanese companies liable for having taken advantage of forced labor during World War II.

By Shin Ji-hye (shinjh@heraldcorp.com)