A South Korean trade official arrived in Geneva Monday to attend a World Trade Organization(WTO) General Council meeting to protest Japan's trade restrictions. 

Kim Seung-ho, deputy minister for multilateral and legal affairs at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, told reporters that he will refute Japan's claims with “sternness and dignity” at the two-day meeting beginning Tuesday.

Calling Japan's move "unreasonable" and “unfair,” Kim said that he will articulate this position to the WTO in plain and easy words.

The high-level official said that Seoul will decide on whether to take the issue to the WTO's dispute settlement body after the council meeting. 

He added that Japan's export curbs of three high-tech materials violate WTO regulations, as would a theoretical removal of South Korea from a shortlist of countries that enjoy preferential trade and customs relations with Japan.

The WTO General Council functions as the top decision-making body for the global trade institution on behalf of its biennial ministerial conference.