All against the authority

Kim Hyun-ki
The author is the Tokyo bureau chief and rotating correspondent of the JoongAng Ilbo.

An online media outlet in South Korea has claimed that the Japanese government and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had made a deal over the findings of the nuclear inspection agency on the wastewater to be released from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant. The online media reported that a high-ranking official from the Japanese foreign ministry had revealed to Masatsugu Asakawa — president of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) — that Tokyo handed over 1 million euros ($1.1 million) to the IAEA to ensure the safety of the radioactive wastewater in its final report.

The “confidential three-page document” the online media claimed to have obtained was truly laughable. The media suspects the document was written up by Asakawa — the ADB chief — who served as a vice minister at the Ministry of Finance and is an expert on international finance. No official currently working at the foreign ministry, including its chief Yoshimasa Hayashi, is older — or has been serving the government longer — than the 65-year-old ADB president. Yet the foreign ministry official who appears in the document referred to Asakawa as if he was a lower rank. Anyone knowledgeable about Japan and the Japanese would not use such insulting expressions.

Here’s another point. On the top of the document appears just the name Asakawa without any official titles, which is very absurd in Japan. If so, the online media outlet should have questioned the reliability of the document if it had had any sense or known about the way business is done in Japan. For instance, Samsung Electronics would not use just the name of its Chairman Lee Jae-yong — or the Bank of Korea would not use just the name of its Governor Rhee Chang-yong — on their secret files. The report has brought shame to the intelligence of South Korean people.

The Democratic Party (DP) is no different. The opposition party lambasted at the final report by the IAEA — which was made after two years of investigation by 11 scientists from various countries — as a “customized report” to favor Japan’s position. The DP claimed that Japan had bought off the IAEA. But the party didn’t mention that China pays twice more than Japan in contributions to IAEA or that South Korea had been a chair country to the board of IAEA until September last year. Only North Korea and Iran deny the UN body in charge of overseeing nuclear safety.

Would the DP deny any IAEA reports on North Korean nuclear facilities since the United States contributes the most to the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog? In a press conference on Tuesday, IAEA President Rafael Grossi repeatedly said the water release “will have negligible radiological impact on people and the environment” and that the IAEA conducted a “comprehensive, neutral, objective, and scientifically sound evaluation.” He added that the IAEA — the “authority” on this affair — “is very confident” about its assessment.

Democratic Party lawmakers led by their leader Lee Jae-myung, center, chant slogans opposing the Japanese government’s plan to discharge the treated water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific, July 5, in the National Assembly. [KIM SEONG-RYONG]

And yet, the DP claims it would rather eat poop than consume contaminated foodstuff from Fukushima. The party may forget or deny its claims later, but the shame would last long for the country. The DP says that even scientific findings may not be “100 percent” true. It insists on stopping Japan from releasing the wastewater to prevent any problems. But its accusation is as ludicrous as arguing that blowfish should not be eaten because it contains poison even if it is served by a licensed cook — and chicken must not be eaten for the danger of infection with the bird flu influenza.

The government and the People Power Party (PPP) still adhere to convincing the people of the safety of the water by drinking the water from a fish tank or eating seafood from Fukushima. But such a novel move can hardly convince the people in this country given their deepening safety concerns. The PPP and government need to take a realistic — and political — approach. Seoul could suggest stationing a South Korean expert in the IAEA office which recently opened in Fukushima. Since South Korea is most sensitive to the water release, the IAEA and Tokyo could agree to the idea.

President Yoon Suk Yeol must make such effort when he meets Grossi in Seoul over the weekend and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida next week on the sidelines of the NATO meeting in Lithuania. Public anxiety could alleviate if South Korea is included in the mission of monitoring and supervising the radioactive levels in the discharge sites and share the findings. We would then find out who spread wild rumors and fake news. Our society must seriously deliberate what kind of a country it wishes to be — one that accepts and respects international findings or one that denies and fights them.