South Korea hits back at Abe on contaminated Fukushima water issue

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe speaks during a press conference at the 8th trilateral leaders' meeting between China, South Korea and Japan in Chengdu in southwestern China's Sichuan province, Dec. 24. AP-Yonhap

Abe's comparison between contamination figures in Japan and Korea needs verification

By Jung Da-min

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is inviting controversy over his reported remarks on contaminated water from Fukushima made during his recent summit with President Moon Jae-in.

Japanese newspaper Sankei Shimbun reported on Dec. 29 that Abe told Moon that the amount of radioactivity in the water from the drainage of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant is less than one percent of that of South Korea's Wolseong nuclear power plant in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province. The report said Abe seemed to have cited a 2016 Japanese government report on the radioactive water at Fukushima.

But experts said Monday that such a claim needs to be verified thoroughly and accordingly also with a clear standard that can be applied equally in both countries. They also pointed out that the issue of contaminated water from the Fukushima plant is often brought up in political contexts in both countries, therefore bringing misunderstanding among the public.

"To compare the levels of contamination in the sites of Fukushima nuclear power plant and a nuclear power plant in Korea, it should be clarified where the water samples are collected," said Moon Joo-hyun, a professor at Dankook University's Department of Nuclear Engineering. "Simply looking at the figures from different sampling sites could not present an exact comparison for the contamination level."

Choi Sung-min, a professor at KAIST's Department of Nuclear and Quantum Engineering, said Seoul and Tokyo need to refrain from presenting "distorted" opinions over the issue when they lack scientific grounds or verification.

"When dealing with the issue of radioactive substances, governments are required to approach it through exact data, refraining from creating excessive fears among the public," Choi said, adding governments also need discretion when presenting opinions to the international community.

In April, the South Korean government won its appeal in a dispute at the World Trade Organization (WTO) over import bans and testing and certification requirements for radionuclides it had imposed on Japanese seafood since September 2013. Japan had requested WTO consultations in May 2015.

Regarding the Japanese reports, Cheong Wa Dae said Moon told Abe that the Japanese government needs to share "necessary and specific" information through transparent procedures.

The Dec. 24 summit between Moon and Abe, which happened on the sidelines of their participation at an annual high-level meeting between leaders of South Korea, Japan and China, came amid a year-long spat between the two countries on various fronts including history, economy and security. Abe brought up the Fukushima radioactive water issue to ask Moon to ease Korea's import restrictions on Japanese seafood from eight districts in the country's northeastern region which have been affected by the 2011 nuclear disaster in Fukushima.

At the summit, President Moon asked Abe to nullify Japan's July decision to remove South Korea from its "whitelist" of most trusted trading partners. But the South Korean leader refused to accept Abe's request to take "necessary measures" over the South Korean Supreme Court's rulings that ordered Japanese companies to compensate surviving South Korean victims of wartime forced labor.

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