Korea will decide the fate of protracted negotiations for a bilateral fisheries agreement with Japan if the two nations fail to reach a deal within this month, Seoul's oceans minister said this week.

Working-level negotiations have been underway to renew their fisheries agreement to decide the fishing quota for each other's exclusive waters, but they have failed to narrow the gap for nearly two years.

"We have a set a deadline for working-level negotiations for the fisheries agreement by April," Oceans Minister Kim Young-choon said in a meeting with reporters on Wednesday. "If (a deal) is not reached within this month, we will have to seek other approaches or make a decision (on the fate of the agreement)."

Kim said the Seoul government needs to make a decision soon because local fishermen have been hurt by the protracted negotiations.

"As the fisheries authorities of the two nations have been struggling to make headway, they will have to solve the problem through other means or the agreement will break down," Kim said.

Since the agreement took effect in 1999, the Asian neighbors have decided on the annual fishing quotas in each other's exclusive economic zones.

Tensions remain high between fisheries authorities of the two nations over Seoul's decision to keep its import restrictions on Japanese seafood despite a World Trade Organization ruling.

Japan officially lodged a complaint with the WTO in 2015 to challenge Korea's import bans and additional testing requirements on fish caught from eight prefectures near Fukushima after 2013.

WTO's dispute settlement panel ruled in favor of Japan in October, but Seoul said it will appeal the ruling and keep its import restrictions on Fukushima seafood in place until a final decision is made.(Yonhap)