SEOUL, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's trade minister said Tuesday that the country planned to file a petition with the World Trade Organization (WTO) against the United States for its "unfair" safeguard measures on South Korea-made washing machines and solar cells.

Trade Minister Kim Hyun-chong told an emergency meeting that South Korea will file a WTO petition against unfair measures, citing the U.S. government's safeguard on imported washers and solar cells.

U.S. President Donald Trump approved recommendations of the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) to impose heavy anti-dumping duties on the imported large residential washing machines and solar cells and modules, mostly from South Korean manufacturers including Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics as well as solar panel makers.

Kim said the South Korean government will actively deal with the protectionist move, stressing that the government will win the WTO petition given the past cases.

He noted that the government and the private sector raised the issue with the United States over its unfair safeguard through multiple channels, but he said the United States made a choice after considering domestic political situation rather than international law.

Samsung and LG exported 1 billion U.S. dollars of large residential washers to the United States in 2016, accounting for about 30 percent of the market share in the United States.

South Korean solar panel makers exported 1.3 billion U.S. dollars of solar cells and modules to the United States in the same year, ranking third in the U.S. market.