IAEA head to visit Korea to discuss report on Fukushima water release

International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Marino Grossi is pictured during his meeting with Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo in May in Austria. [YONHAP]

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Marino Grossi will visit Seoul for three days starting Friday.

"Grossi will be visiting Japan starting today to turn in the report by the IAEA task force monitoring the polluted waters in Japan," Park Ku-yeon, the first deputy chief of the Office for Government Policy Coordination, said Tuesday. "Then, he will visit Korea."

Park said that Grossi, during his visit, will meet with Yoo Guk-hee, head of the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission and brief the commission on the IAEA's final report that is to be handed to the Japanese government.

Yoo led a team of 21 experts in late May to inspect the Fukushima nuclear power plant.

It was the first time that the Japanese government allowed a team organized by another country's government to inspect the site.

Grossi will also meet with other government officials, including Foreign Minister Park Jin.

"Until now, the [Korean] government has reviewed Japan's discharge plans scientifically and technically by sending our own inspection team and participating in the IAEA monitoring task force," Park said. "Now, we are in the final stage [of the review]."

"Once the review is completed, a response manual that has been underway will be made public."

Grossi's visit comes at a time when there have been polarizations within Korea over the safety of the planned discharge of the treated radioactive water from the Fukushima plant.

The Democratic Party (DP), in particular, has been a vocal opponent of the water release.

DP floor leader Park Kwang-on questioned the integrity of the IAEA's upcoming report.

"There are possibilities that the IAEA report could be customized for Japan rather than an objective report," he said on Monday. "It could be a political report instead of a scientific report."

Another DP Rep. Jeon Yong-gi, on a radio show on Monday, said Japan might have lobbied the IAEA.

"There are saying that a lot of Japanese capitals flow into the IAEA," Joen said, adding, "The report won't be fair."

Another DP Rep. Lim Jong-seong, during a weekend rally, said that he would rather eat human excrement than drink the waters coming out of Fukushima.

On the other end of the political spectrum a People Power Party (PPP) legislator was criticized for drinking out of a fish tank while visiting Noryangjin Fish Market last week.

While a group of PPP lawmakers was at the fish market to support the industry that had been hit hard by the recent controversy, Rep. Kim Young-sun suddenly scooped water out from a fish tank with her hand and drank it and offered it to fellow lawmakers.

She said that she did it because the DP had continuously asked the government and the PPP lawmakers to drink the waters from Fukushima if they were safe to drink.

BY LEE HO-JEONG [lee.hojeong@joongang.co.kr]