By Lee Hyo-sik
A group of Japanese residents in Fukushima Prefecture where a nuclear power plant exploded a year ago had explored the possibility of moving to a rural county in North Jeolla Province.
A representative of Jangsu County, located in the eastern part of the province, said Tuesday that a pastor running a church in a small farming village within the radiation-contaminated prefecture visited on Feb. 16.
The Japanese man was searching for a new home for his villagers who want to leave their homeland following the series of explosions at a nearby nuclear plant in March 2011. The pastor expressed the intent to have the villagers move to and settle down in the county famous for apples and Korea’s homegrown beef ``hanwoo.’’
``A 70-year-old Japanese man who identified himself as a pastor from Fukushima Prefecture visited the county office last month. He told us that he and other adults want children in his village to grow up in a safe place without a nuclear power plant,’’ said Ryu Ji-bong, manager of the county’s policy planning division. ``The pastor said he would discuss the matter with fellow residents and inform us of whether they want to come here or not. But we have not heard from him since.’’
The pastor said his Japanese hometown and Jangsu County have a lot in common.
``After touring the region, he said the natural environment is very similar to his rural town. He also said both areas produce similar types of agricultural goods, including apples, and raise horses, dairy cattle and other livestock,’’ Ryu said.
But the manager said the county office has been pressured by some residents not to accept the Japanese people from the radiation-tainted area.
``Nothing has been decided yet,” Ryu said. “But some of our residents disapprove of the mass emigration of Japanese from the Fukushima Prefecture. Also, our website has been loaded with messages containing anti-Japanese rhetoric.’’
Jangsu was designated as a leisure area for horse-related activities last year. It plans to invest 100 billion won to build facilities, including a horserace track on 710,000 square-meters of land by 2024.