US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Tuesday he plans to meet with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts in Bangkok this week amid a simmering trade row between the two Asian nations.

Pompeo told reporters flying with him to Thailand for a regional forum that he will meet separately and then trilaterally with South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-hwa and Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono.

The three-way talks will come as tensions have increased over Tokyo's adoption of stricter export controls against Seoul in response to South Korean court rulings ordering Japanese compensation for victims of wartime forced labor. (Yonhap)