WASHINGTON (Yonhap News) ― The U.S. government expressed concern Thursday over South Korea’s move to resume whaling.

“We plan to discuss this with the South Korean government,” State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said, adding Washington remains committed to the moratorium.

South Korea has notified the International Whaling Commission (IWC) of its plan to restart research-purpose whaling, which it halted in 1986.

Japan has continued whaling, citing scientific purposes.

Australia and New Zealand have voiced strong opposition to Seoul’s move.

In Panama, where an IWC meeting is under way, the U.S. delegation also expressed “extreme concern.”

“We are extremely concerned about South Korea’s push to kill whales in the name of research,” said Russell Smith, deputy assistant commerce secretary for international fisheries at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, according to news reports.