Under an international trade dispute settlement system, South Korea has agreed to discuss its import restrictions on Japanese fishery products following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, the agriculture, forestry and fisheries minister Yoshimasa Hayashi said Tuesday.

“We received a response (from South Korea) on Friday in Geneva saying it will respond to our country’s request for consultations,” the minister said, referring to the first step in the World Trade Organization’s dispute settlement process.

Following the Fukushima No. 1 disaster in March 2011, South Korea banned imports of 50 different kinds of marine products from Fukushima Prefecture and seven other nearby prefectures. In September 2013, Seoul expanded the restriction to bar all fishery products from the eight prefectures.

Japan, saying there is no scientific justification for the import restrictions and is calling for the removal of the ban, requested consultations with South Korea on May 21. WTO rules in principle require consultations to start within 30 days after receiving a request for consultations.

bbabo.Net