South Korea and Japan were unable to settle differences and reach an agreement in trade talks on Monday but agreed to continue dialogue in an effort to resolve their trade row.

Lee Ho-hyeon, director general for trade policy at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, sat down for talks with his Japanese counterpart Yoichi Iida at 10 a.m. in Tokyo for the first senior-level bilateral talks in three-and-a-half years.

After ten hours, the South Korean Trade Ministry said in a statement that the two sides "expanded mutual understanding of each other's export control system."

The statement added that the two countries agreed to continue communications and talks to contribute to the resolution of pending issues as well as to provide updates on what should be done in each other's export control system and implementation.

The two sides also agreed to hold a follow-up meeting in Seoul at an early date. 

The director-general-level talks marked the first such bilateral trade meeting since Seoul conditionally suspended the termination of a military intel-sharing deal with Japan last month.

South Korea said in August it would pull out of the pact after Japan introduced export curbs on it the previous month.