South Korea's Commerce Ministry plans to resume talks in Brussels this week with the European Union to settle ongoing conflicts in the shipbuilding industry, ministry officials said.
"We will send higher-level officials to Brussels for talks to discuss pending matters concerning the shipbuilding industry," a ministry official said. A delegation led by South Korean Deputy Commerce Minister Lee Hee-beom was scheduled to meet with EU counterpart, Deputy Director General Peter Carl, on March 14, the official said.
Both parties would discuss various issues, including the EU's accusation that the South Korean government subsidizes the Korean shipbuilding industry and the transparency of Korean shipbuilders' bookkeeping, the official said. "The two sides would seek to reach a joint agreement so that there will be no more unnecessary conflicts," he said.
An EU executive and national governments have accused South Korea of using financial aid given by the International Monetary Fund to unfairly subsidize its shipbuilding industry. Seoul has rejected the accusations.