By Chung Ah-young
Korean civic groups called for the Japanese Embassy to cancel the Seoul Sake Festival which is scheduled to take place this weekend due to the concerns over "possible radioactive contamination." Sake is a Japanese wine made from fermented rice.
Eleven civic groups held a press conference in front of the Public Information and Cultural Center of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, Friday, to urge the embassy to cancel the event to be held at COEX in southern Seoul today and Sunday.
"Some 100 Japanese sake makers which will participate in the event are including some products manufactured in regions near Fukushima where the nuclear accident occurred in 2011," an activist said.
"As many countries are banning imports of fishery and agricultural products from Japan, it is nonsense to hold the sake festival here," she said.
"As the main ingredients of sake are water and rice, they should not hold the event in which Koreans can taste the sake which might be produced in regions contaminated with radioactivity," she said.
They claimed that rice produced in Fukushima was found to contain a high level of radioactive Cesium at 50-77 Becquerel per kilogram (Bq/kg).
After the press conference, the activists delivered a letter of protest to the Japanese Embassy.
The embassy said that all the sake which has been imported has been examined to detect radioactive contamination and deemed safe.
The festival is organized by the Japanese Embassy in Korea with some 100 Japanese sake makers taking part.
The government has banned imports of fish from eight prefectures in Japan since September 2013.
Korean civic groups called for the Japanese Embassy to cancel the Seoul Sake Festival which is scheduled to take place this weekend due to the concerns over "possible radioactive contamination." Sake is a Japanese wine made from fermented rice.
Eleven civic groups held a press conference in front of the Public Information and Cultural Center of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, Friday, to urge the embassy to cancel the event to be held at COEX in southern Seoul today and Sunday.
"Some 100 Japanese sake makers which will participate in the event are including some products manufactured in regions near Fukushima where the nuclear accident occurred in 2011," an activist said.
"As many countries are banning imports of fishery and agricultural products from Japan, it is nonsense to hold the sake festival here," she said.
"As the main ingredients of sake are water and rice, they should not hold the event in which Koreans can taste the sake which might be produced in regions contaminated with radioactivity," she said.
They claimed that rice produced in Fukushima was found to contain a high level of radioactive Cesium at 50-77 Becquerel per kilogram (Bq/kg).
After the press conference, the activists delivered a letter of protest to the Japanese Embassy.
The embassy said that all the sake which has been imported has been examined to detect radioactive contamination and deemed safe.
The festival is organized by the Japanese Embassy in Korea with some 100 Japanese sake makers taking part.
The government has banned imports of fish from eight prefectures in Japan since September 2013.
