The South Korean government dismissed Japan's request for Seoul to ease or lift import bans on Japanese seafood products from the Fukushima region and seven other prefectures.

According to the Foreign Ministry in Seoul, Japan made the request on Tuesday during the two sides' director-general-level meeting in Tokyo. 

Kim Yong-kil, the director-general of the Foreign Ministry's Northeast Asian Affairs Bureau told his Japanese counterpart Kenji Kanasugi that Seoul respects the World Trade Organization's(WTO) recent ruling which considered the ban to be reasonable.

Kim added that the health and safety of the South Korean people is his government's utmost priority.

Earlier this month, the WTO's appellate body ruled South Korea's import restrictions following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster were not unfair and did not fall into the category of arbitrary discrimination.

Despite reaffirming their differences on other issues, including compensation for Korean victims of Japan's forced labor and Japan's repeated false claims regarding Korea's Dokdo islets, the two sides agreed to continue dialogue for the development of bilateral ties.