Bilateral talks between Korea and Japan to renew their fisheries agreement have fallen through, a failure that will keep the countries' fishing boats out of each other's exclusive waters for the time being, the Seoul government said Wednesday.

Starting at the beginning of next month, Korean fishing ships will be prohibited from entering Japan's exclusive economic zone, with their Japanese counterparts also kept away from the Korean EEZ, according to the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries.

Those currently in the other country's exclusive waters must leave the area before the end of Thursday, it added.

The countries failed to reach an agreement at their four-day talks in Tokyo last week.

Seoul had asked for its annual fishing quota for cutlassfish in Japanese waters to be raised to 5,000 tons in the 2016-2017 period from the current 2,500 tons.

The Korean ministry had also requested easier access for its long-liners, a type of fishing vessel that use long lines with baited hooks.

Tokyo, on the other hand, sought to reduce the number of Korean long-liners entering its exclusive waters to 73, down 65 percent from the current 206.

Seoul rejected the proposed reduction, noting the countries have already agreed to reduce the number of South Korean long-liners in Japanese waters by 40 by 2019.

The countries have often failed to renew their annual fisheries agreements that expire at the end of June but had allowed each other's fishing ships to continue operating in their exclusive waters under the same terms of previous year's agreements.

For instance, the countries had reached an agreement for the 2014-2015 period in January 2015, over six months after their 2013-2014 agreement expired. Still, their fishing boats had been allowed to continue operating in each other's exclusive waters.

This year, however, the Seoul government has also rejected a Japanese proposal to allow their fishing boats to continue operating under the 2015-2016 agreement.

A fresh round of negotiations will be held in the near future, but the date for the new round has yet to be set, the ministry said in a press release. (Yonhap)