Senior trade officials from South Korea and Japan have held their first meeting on Monday in months, in hopes for resolving the trade dispute after Japan imposed restrictions on exports of key raw materials in use by hi-tech industries in South Korea back in July. The resulting trade dispute quickly escalated with South Korean consumers calling for a boycott of Japanese goods and both countries removing each other from their trade whitelists.

Earlier today, director-general at the Japanese trade ministry’s trade control department, Yoichi Iida, attended bilateral talks with his South Korean counterpart, Lee Ho-Hyeon, in Tokyo for the first time in more than three years. The two officials are expected to discuss Japan restricting exports of key raw materials and removing South Korea from its list of whitelisted trade partners.

The relations between Japan and South Korea have been strained regarding the issue of compensation for forced wartime labor, which escalated into the present trade dispute. Apart from this issue affecting the trade relations, there are increasing concerns that it could impact intelligence sharing between the two Asian nations.