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| Choi Won-ho, director-general of the space and nuclear bureau at the Ministry of Science and ICT, speaks during a news conference at the government complex in Seoul, Thursday. / Yonhap |
By Jun Ji-hye
The government wants the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to play a more active role in dealing with Japan's plan to discharge contaminated water into the Pacific Ocean, officials said Thursday.
In an official letter to the IAEA, the Ministry of Science and ICT delivered the country's serious concerns over potential harmful effects on the environment, citing the possibility that Japan would dump radioactive water from its crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant into the ocean.
"The ministry asked the IAEA to play a more active role by cooperating with related international organizations and countries involved," a ministry official said.
Environmentalist group Greenpeace earlier said that Japan was planning to discharge about a million tons of radioactive water into the ocean.
Japan said it has not made any immediate plans for handling the contaminated water.
The ministry said beginning with the letter, it will expose the issue to the world as it is directly related to the health of citizens in the region and the marine environment near the nuclear plant.
As part of efforts, First Vice Minister of the Ministry of Science and ICT Moon Mi-ok will participate in the IAEA General Conference, which will be held in Vienna Sept. 16 through Sept. 20.
Moon will deliver a keynote address there to establish more interest in the issue among member countries and call for joint responses.
"The government will continue to ask for close international cooperation so the international community can find a safe, optimized and fair way of dealing with the contaminated water," the official said.
North Korea has also recently stepped up pressure on Tokyo to drop any plan to dispose of radioactive water, saying the Korean people would bear the brunt of its consequences.
The Rodong Sinmun, the North's official newspaper, said Wednesday that discharging contaminated water into the sea would be a criminal act that could bring about a nuclear calamity in the region.
On Aug. 19, Korea's foreign ministry summoned an official of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul in a bid to discover if the claim made by Greenpeace was true and ask about Tokyo's plans to handle the contaminated water.
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