Follow-up talks on Fukushima inspection held

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Follow-up talks on Fukushima inspection held

Published: 17 May. 2023, 16:48 Updated: 17 May. 2023, 19:20

People rally in front of the Second Members' Office Building of the House of Representatives to protest the Japanese government's plan to discharge treated radioactive water into the sea in Tokyo, on Tuesday. Hundreds of Japanese people gathered at multiple locations in Tokyo on Tuesday to protest the government's plan to discharge contaminated water from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the sea, demanding the immediate suspension of the plan. [XINHUA/YONHAP]

Korea and Japan continued their negotiations on Wednesday to hone down the details of the upcoming Korean visit to the ruined Fukushima nuclear plant.

Meeting virtually behind closed doors for some four hours, the negotiators were facing each other for the second time as a follow-up to their 12 hours of talks in Seoul last Friday. The first negotiations had ended without an apparent agreement on the specifics of the visit, other than that the Korean team would be granted four days to inspect the plant, likely later this month.

The Korean team joining the meeting Wednesday was led by Kim Sun-young, an official from the Foreign Ministry's department of climate change, energy, environmental and scientific affairs. The Japanese team was led by Keiichi Yumoto, director general for nuclear accident disaster response in the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

Meeting with the press on Tuesday, a Foreign Ministry official said that the follow-up negotiations were to focus on the extent of the activities and access to facilities granted to the Korean team visiting the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station.

“A lot of comprehensive and detailed proposals were made to the Japanese side" during the last meeting, said the official. “A lot of progress was made because the Japanese side responded with a very cooperative attitude.”

The Korean team in the negotiations last Friday had likely asked to get a closer look at the Advanced Liquid Processing System, which handles the treatment of contaminated water at the ruined Fukushima nuclear power plant, and for the inclusion of private-sector scientists in the 20-person team to visit the plant.

A massive earthquake and tsunami struck Japan on March 11, 2011, destroying the Fukushima nuclear power plant.

Japan plans to gradually release tons of treated radioactive water from the defunct power plant into the sea — a plan that was announced in 2021 and has drawn strong opposition from fishing communities both at home and abroad.

The plant’s operator, Tepco, has said that all radioactive materials have been removed from the water except tritium, which experts say is not harmful to human health in small amounts.

The plan has been supported by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Members of civic groups shout slogans during a rally calling for Korea and Group of 7 nations to express their objection to the Japanese government's decision to release treated radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant and condemning the People Power Party's response to it, in Seoul on Wednesday. [AP/YONHAP]

There are Korean experts who are part of the inspection team at the IAEA, but the additional visit from Korea was announced after a recent summit between President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Seoul.

The Japanese decision to release the treated water into the ocean was one of several issues to sour relations between Japan and Korea in recent years.

Taiwan had also sent a team to examine the plant in March, a visit that was granted mainly because Taiwan is not a member of the IAEA.

The Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat also sent a team to the plant in February.

Both teams were briefed by Tepco before visiting relevant facilities such as K4 tanks storing treated water and the undersea tunnel to be used for releasing the water into the sea.

Some Democratic Party representatives demand that the Korean team visiting Fukushima be allowed to collect treated water samples, to conduct separate safety analyses.

Korea's Office for Government Policy Coordination dismissed this idea during a press conference last Friday.

Members of the parliament protest the planned discharge of treated water from the ruined Fukushima nuclear power plant in front of the presidential office in Seoul on Monday. The parliamentarians are wearing masks with the faces of Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, left, and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, right, and handing over a glass of water meant to symbolize treated water. [NEWS1]

BY ESTHER CHUNG [chung.juhee@joongang.co.kr]