Yoon might discuss Fukushima water with Kishida at next meeting

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Yoon might discuss Fukushima water with Kishida at next meeting

Published: 06 Jul. 2023, 18:14 Updated: 06 Jul. 2023, 18:27

A seafood vendor at the Incheon Complex Fish Market lays out squid on Thursday afternoon, a day before International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi is due to arrive in Korea. The agency released a report on Tuesday that concluded Japan’s methods to treat radioactive wastewater from the ruined Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant and release it into the ocean meets international safety standards, and that the impact of the discharge on people and the environment would be negligible. [YONHAP]

President Yoon Suk Yeol could raise the issue of Japan’s plan to release radioactive wastewater from the ruined Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at their next meeting, the Korean presidential office said Thursday.

Kim Tae-hyo, the first deputy director of the National Security Office, told reporters at a briefing that the presidential office is working to arrange a meeting between Yoon and Kishida on the sidelines of the NATO summit scheduled to take place on Tuesday and Wednesday in Lithuania, which both leaders are due to attend.

The announcement came after the Democratic Party (DP) said its lawmakers plan to stage an overnight sit-in at the National Assembly from 7 p.m. Thursday to noon on Friday to protest Japan’s plan to discharge radioactive water into the sea.

The planned protest is scheduled to take place just before Seoul releases its own analysis of the wastewater release plan.

Korea’s analysis of the Japanese discharge plan is based on the findings of a Korean team’s on-site inspection of the Fukushima Daiichi plant, operated by the Tokyo Electric Power Co., which took place in late May.

Japan agreed to an inspection of the plant's water treatment process by Korean experts during a previous round of talks between Yoon and Kishida that took place in Seoul early in May.

Park Ku-yeon, the first deputy chief of the Office for Government Policy Coordination, said the Korean experts’ report will be disclosed at a daily briefing on Friday.

The briefing will be attended by Yoo Geun-hee, chief of the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission, who led the Korean inspection team, as well as other government officials.

Shin Jae-shik, a senior official on the commission, said the Korean government report will include Seoul’s views on the findings of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) two-year review of Tokyo’s wastewater discharge plan.

Shin said the Korean report will also include “a comprehensive conclusion and suggestions to Japan.”

The timing of the Korean report’s release is scheduled to coincide with the beginning of a three-day visit to Korea by Rafael Grossi, the IAEA’s director general, who is due to arrive in Seoul on Friday after a four-day trip to Japan.

On Tuesday, the agency released a report on its two year-review of the Japanese discharge plan.

It concluded Japan’s process to treat radioactive water and release it into the ocean meets international safety standards, and that the impact of the discharge on people and the environment would be negligible.

Seoul’s reaction to the IAEA’s report was one of muted acceptance, with Park saying at a Wednesday briefing that the government “holds respect for its findings.”

The IAEA report is seen as the agency’s approval for Japan to begin releasing radioactive water from the Fukushima plant as early as August.

The planned discharge is expected to be gradual and could take decades to complete.

But the DP has opposed the water release plan by questioning the credibility and neutrality of the agency and also claiming the radioactive discharge will harm the health of Koreans and the maritime environment of the peninsula.

All 167 DP lawmakers are expected to conduct an all-night relay of speeches demanding Tokyo’s plan be scrapped and denouncing Seoul’s response to the IAEA report and the planned discharge.

Officials and experts have said that as long as safety protocols and treatment methods implemented by the Japanese government and Tepco are followed, the release of treated wastewater will have no adverse effects on human or maritime health because the discharge will be diluted and dispersed by the Pacific Ocean and sea currents.

The conservative People Power Party has accused the DP of seizing on the issue for political gain ahead of next year’s parliamentary elections by pushing unscientific claims to sow fear and mistrust in the government.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]