Top diplomats of Korea, Japan to hold talks on Fukushima water release

Diplomacy

Published: 13 Jul. 2023, 10:31 Updated: 13 Jul. 2023, 14:12

Top diplomats of Korea, Japan to hold talks on Fukushima water release

Foreign Minister Park Jin, left, speaks to reporters at Shangri-La Jakarta in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Wednesday after arriving to attend a series of high-level meetings led by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. [YONHAP]

The top diplomats of Korea and Japan were set to hold bilateral talks Thursday over Tokyo's plan to discharge treated radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima plant.

The planned meeting between Foreign Minister Park Jin and his Japanese counterpart, Yoshimasa Hayashi, in Jakarta, Indonesia, comes on the heels of a bilateral summit between the leaders of the two countries held a day earlier in Lithuania.

During the summit held in Vilnius, Lithuania, on the sidelines of a NATO summit, President Yoon Suk Yeol asked Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to include Korean experts in monitoring the planned water release.

In the ministers' meeting to be held on the sidelines of high-level meetings led by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), Park is expected to reiterate Yoon's request to Japan, which also calls for the discharge to be stopped immediately if the concentration of radioactive material in the water exceeds standard levels.

Park and Hayashi are expected to denounce North Korea's latest ballistic missile provocation, a day before the Asean-hosted meetings, and reaffirm the importance of cooperation between the two countries and trilateral cooperation involving the United States in dealing with the North's nuclear issue.

In the afternoon, Park is scheduled to participate in the South Korea-Asean foreign ministers' meeting and the Asean plus three meeting, which also includes China and Japan.

During the talks, Park is expected to emphasize Seoul's resolve to implement its Indo-Pacific strategy introduced in November of last year and make efforts to earn an official endorsement of the South Korea-Asean Solidarity Initiative, a core component of the Indo-Pacific strategy, from Asean members.

Issues involving North Korea and Myanmar, in particular, are likely to be covered during the Asean plus three meeting.

In the evening, the minister is scheduled to attend a reception for the heads of delegations by Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi.

Yonhap