Gov't says IAEA report irrelevant to Korea's Fukushima seafood import ban

The Korea Times

The Korea Times

National

Sat, September 23, 2023 | 04:11

Gov't says IAEA report will not affect Korea's Fukushima seafood import ban

Posted : 2023-07-11 16:35

Updated : 2023-07-12 09:33

Park Ku-yeon, left, the first deputy chief of the Office for Government Policy Coordination, speaks during a daily briefing on Japan's plan to discharge the wastewater from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant at the Government Complex in Seoul, Tuesday. Yonhap

By Lee Hae-rin

Associating Korea's import ban on Fukushima seafood with Japan's wastewater discharge plan is based on an inaccurate premise, the government said, Tuesday.

The statement reaffirms the government's stance that the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) report, which confirmed Japan's plan to release radioactive liquid into the Pacific Ocean is consistent with international safety standards, has nothing to do with Korea's import ban on Fukushima seafood.

It also shows that the country plans to maintain the ban until its safety is scientifically proven and the people accept the results.

"The IAEA report is not about the sea around Fukushima, but it's about a safety review of the Tokyo Electric Power Company's plan to discharge wastewater into the ocean," Park Ku-yeon, the first deputy chief of the Office for Government Policy Coordination, said during a daily briefing at the Government Complex in Seoul.

"The place that Japan plans to discharge the wastewater is the sea around Fukushima, but the subject of the IAEA's assessment is the safety of the plan to discharge the wastewater itself."

His remarks are seen as the government's interpretation of IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi's interview with The Korea Times' sister paper The Hankook Ilbo during his recent visit to Korea, in which he said, "If the water is safely treated and released, there will be no contamination of seafood."

Park explained that Grossi's interview is meant to say that the wastewater discharge wouldn't make additional contamination in the ocean, as the IAEA chief wouldn't have commented on the condition of the water around Fukushima, which was not subject to the IAEA's safety review.

As for the IAEA's relationship with the United Nations, Park said the IAEA is an independent body under the umbrella of the U.N. specializing in nuclear energy in consideration that it still reports to the U.N. General Assembly, while assuming tasks independently.

The remarks came after Rep. Yang Yi-won-young of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea told local media, Sunday, that the IAEA is not a U.N. agency but an organization running on contributions from countries with nuclear power-generating industries.

lhr@koreatimes.co.kr