South Korea, China and Japan will hold a new round of negotiations this week for a three-way free trade agreement (FTA), the South Korean government said Sunday.

The talks, the sixth of their kind, will be held in Tokyo from Monday through Friday, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The last meeting in Beijing in early September ended with little progress.

The ministry said the countries were again expected to seek a breakthrough.

"In the past five rounds of negotiations, the three countries held discussions on various issues from products, services and investment to competition, intellectual property rights, the environment and regulations," it said in a press release.

"At the upcoming round, the three countries will focus on market liberalization for products, services and investment," it added.

This week's negotiations are drawing special attention as South Korea and China on Nov. 10 announced the conclusion of talks for their bilateral FTA.

The ministry said the South Korea-China FTA will affect the course of the three-way FTA negotiations.

"The government will continue to actively take part in the Korea-China-Japan FTA negotiations, as well as other discussions on creating a regional economic bloc such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership while maintaining their consistency with the Korea-China FTA," it said.

South Korea and Japan had held separate negotiations for a bilateral trade deal, but they have been suspended since late 2004, partly due to Japan's reluctance to open its agricultural market.

The three-nation FTA talks were first held in late 2012. The countries have said they will seek to conclude the trilateral negotiations before the end of next year. (Yonhap)