Tokyo has officially called for discussions with Seoul over a South Korean court decision that approved assets be seized from a Japanese firm implicated in wartime forced labor.

According to Japan’s Kyodo News, Japan's Vice Foreign Minister Takeo Akiba summoned South Korean Ambassador to Japan Lee Su-hoon Wednesday to request formal discussions on the issue between the two governments based on a 1965 normalization treaty. 

Signed in 1965 to address issues from the Japanese colonial period, the deal stipulates Seoul and Tokyo will seek diplomatic solutions first in disputes over the interpretation and implementation of the deal. 

If such a conflict is not resolved through discussions between the two governments, it will be referred to an arbitration committee that includes members from a third country. 

It is questionable that Seoul will accept Tokyo’s request given the negative sentiment among many South Koreans toward Japan’s actions over colonial issues. Japan has reportedly never accepted similar requests from Seoul. 

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Cabinet decided to take the action earlier in the day. It also discussed a wide range of bilateral issues with South Korea, including how to protect Japanese companies operating in South Korea. 

The Japanese government is also known to be considering bringing the case to the International Court of Justice while mulling the possibility of raising tariffs on South Korean imports and confiscating South Korean companies’ assets in Japan. 

Earlier in the day, the Daegu District Court's Pohang branch said it approved a request by South Korean victims of wartime forced labor to seize Japanese steelmaker Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal’s assets based in Korea.

The move came months after the South Korean Supreme Court ordered the steelmaker to compensate the said Korean victims, which the Japanese firm has refused to do.