The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MOFAT) said Friday Korea and Japan are expected to hold the "1st Korea-Japan FTA Joint Study Group" meeting from July 9th and 10th in Seoul to discuss the possible economic impact of a bilateral free trade agreement. The non-governmental meeting is aimed at seeing if the two countries could be trading partners under the FTA and study what issues would be on the negotiating table. Korea and Japan will decide whether to start official talks to bring them under the FTA scheme depending on the results of the group talks. In March, President Kim Dae-jung and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi agreed to form a joint study group to talk about the issue.