South Korea and Japan held director-level foreign ministerial talks in the wake of Japan's additional trade curbs of excluding Korea from its preferred trade partner list.

Seoul's Foreign Ministry said its chief of Asia-Pacific affairs, Kim Jeong-han, held talks with his Japanese counterpart, Kenji Kanasugi, from 9:40 a.m. Friday local time in Thailand. 

During the meeting that lasted just over an hour, Kim expressed deep regret and protest over Japan's whitelist decision and urged an immediate withdrawal of all of Tokyo's export restrictions against Seoul.

In response, the Japanese side is known to have reiterated the stance that its measures are legitimate and fully compatible with the global free trade regime.

The two sides only agreed that communication between working-level officials is necessary.