Nam Hyun-woo has worked as a staff writer at The Korea Times since 2013, mostly covering business and politics. He currently belongs to the Business Desk where he covers topics such as emerging tech, AI, ICT and Korea's chaebol community. Prior to joining the team, he was the paper's correspondent for the presidential office of Korea during the Yoon Suk Yeol and Moon Jae-in administrations.
Korea, Japan lock horns over sharing info on Fukushima water
Tanks contain contaminated water from the destroyed Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Okuma, Fukushima Prefecture, in this Jan. 22, 2020 photo. EPA-Yonhap
By Nam Hyun-woo
By Nam Hyun-woo
Korea and Japan are locking horns over sharing information on contaminated water scheduled to be released from the destroyed Fukushima nuclear power plant.
According to government officials, Friday, Tokyo is demanding Seoul reveal information on the disposal of wastewater from Korean nuclear power plants in response to Korea and other neighboring countries demanding that it disclose detailed data on the Fukushima wastewater.
For years, the government here has been calling on Japan to share information on the contaminated water and to let Korean experts take part in damage verification procedures. The friction between the two countries resurfaced recently as a diplomatic issue after Japan announced April 13 its plan to release more than 1 million tons of the contaminated water into the Pacific Ocean starting 2023.
“Japan first brought up the idea of information sharing in 2019 during diplomatic discussions, in what appears to be a strategy to set off a debate on revealing the radioactive waste information to Korea and China,” a government official said on condition of anonymity. “Despite Japan's claim, we don't see this as a developing debate.”
The official said both Korea and Japan are already disclosing “a certain level of data and information” on radioactive waste coming from their nuclear power plants, because Korea's Wolsong nuclear plants are also releasing treated wastewater containing tritium.
The Korean government argues that its request for Japan to reveal much more detailed data reflects the impact of the disaster at Fukushima, while Japan's demand for corresponding data is inappropriate because nuclear power plants here are operating normally and have not been damaged.
After announcing the decision to release the contaminated water, Japan has been beefing up its efforts to frame the issue as a shared problem between neighboring countries. Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato said in a press conference April 13 that “nuclear plants in Korea, China and Taiwan are also releasing wastewater containing tritium.”
In line with this, Japan is urging Korea and China to reveal confidential data on their radioactive waste to deter efforts to frustrate Tokyo's decision through seeking to verify the potential harmfulness of the Fukushima water. Experts said Japan is anticipated to stick to this strategy.
Environmental activists wearing a mask of Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and protective suits stage a protest near the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, April 13, denouncing Tokyo's decision to release contaminated wastewater from the destroyed Fukushima nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean. AP-Yonhap
“Japan seems to have established a strong logic,” said Seong Poong-hyun, a professor at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology's Department of Nuclear and Quantum Engineering.
“As Korea is also releasing wastewater containing tritium ― from the Wolsong nuclear plants ― after verifying its environmental harmlessness, this has become a counter strategy for Japan. However, it could be a good option for Korea to make public its data on the wastewater and compare it with that from Fukushima.”
Diplomatic tension has been mounting between Seoul and Tokyo after Japan announced its decision. When receiving credentials from new Japanese Ambassador to Korea Koichi Aiboshi earlier this month, President Moon Jae-in said, “There are significant concerns here about the decision as a country that is geographically closest and shares the sea with Japan.” President Moon also ordered government officials to explore petitioning an international court over the decision.