Japan and South Korea ended two days of talks Tuesday with no progress on drawing the boundaries of their exclusive economic zones in the Sea of Japan, South Korean and Japanese officials said.
At the center of the dispute is a row over which country has claim to a set of islets now controlled by South Korea. They are called Takeshima in Japan and Dokdo in South Korea.
The two sides did agree to hold another meeting in Tokyo at a date to be worked out through diplomatic channels, the officials said.
"There has been the common understanding that demarcation of the EEZ is important for the development of bilateral relations and the establishment of stable maritime order in Northeast Asia," an official from South Korea's Foreign Affairs and Trade Ministry was quoted as saying in a report by Yonhap News Agency.