Fukushima inspection was Yoon's political solution to science issue: experts

The Korea Times

The Korea Times

National

Tue, October 3, 2023 | 05:25

Foreign Affairs

Fukushima inspection was Yoon's 'political answer to science question': experts

Posted : 2023-05-26 17:59

Updated : 2023-05-28 15:32

Yoo Guk-hee, head of the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission, speaks to reporters at Incheon International Airport, Friday, after his team's on-site inspection of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan. Yonhap

Opposition party begins signature-gathering campaign against release of radioactive wastewater

By Jung Min-ho

A team of Korean scientists have wrapped up a four-day inspection of Japan's plan to release radioactive water into the ocean after treatment, without making a conclusive statement over whether it would be safe.

Speaking to reporters upon his return to Korea, Friday, Yoo Guk-hee, head of the inspection team, said that they would need additional time to achieve an accurate safety review regarding the water from the tsunami-damaged Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant before reaching a conclusion. He then suggested the team will likely announce its findings after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) releases its own inspection results next month.

Experts contacted by The Korea Times said that the Korean team's findings are likely to be no different from those of the IAEA. Sending a team to Japan, they added, was President Yoon Suk Yeol's political answer to a science question, which they believe will not be settled irrespective of what the recently returned scientists or the IAEA may conclude.

"The issue has become too politicized. Given the limited time provided and jurisdiction issues, it was obvious from the beginning that sending the inspection team was Yoon's political answer to a science question," Lee Won-deog, an expert on Japan at Kookmin University in Seoul, said. "The Fukushima issue is now under the joint inspection of scientists from 11 countries, including Korea and China. Given the ocean currents, Russia, Canada and the United States are among those expected to be affected most by the harmful effects, if there are any, of the water release. Yet Korea is the only IAEA member country demanding to carry out its own inspection."

A woman adds her signature to a campaign against Japan's decision to release radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant into the ocean in central Seoul, Friday, as Lee Jae-myung, third from left, leader of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, and other party officials stand nearby. Yonhap

The scholar said the opposition parties have framed the issue as a bilateral one between the two countries. But the truth is, he said, Japan plans to release the wastewater into "the Pacific, not the East Sea."

"This is why Korea's inspection demand would be unacceptable to Japan," Lee said. "I also do not think Korea's safety approval would, as many fear, lead to imports of agricultural and marine products from the Fukushima region. The two matters are very different in nature."

Following a tsunami-triggered nuclear meltdown at the power plant in 2011, authorities in Japan suspended fishing operations off the coast of neighboring prefectures. The country has since lifted restrictions gradually on fish from the area. Subsequently, many countries have eased or completely removed their import restrictions.

This concerns Cho Sung-ryul, a scholar at the University of North Korean Studies and former consul general to Osaka. He said, by sending the inspectors to Japan, the administration hurt the long-held stance regarding the import of seafood from areas affected by the nuclear disaster ― a position backed by the World Trade Organization's ruling in 2019.

"It damaged the justification of the ban, which I think will eventually lead to its lifting," Cho said. "I'm worried that, as the government tries to distance itself from the diplomatic issue, it might end up in the hands of individual importers … I doubt that the inspection team will say anything controversial or different from the IAEA's conclusion."

Members of a Korean inspection team check the treatment facility for the wastewater from the tsunami-damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan, May 24. Courtesy of Tokyo Electric Power Company

If everything goes as planned, the Japanese government and Tokyo Electric Power Company are expected to start releasing treated radioactive water this July or sooner, which they say is necessary to safely decommission the plant.

Meanwhile, the opposition Democratic Party of Korea said on Friday that it began collecting signatures as part of its campaign to oppose the Fukushima water release plan.

Citing concerns about health hazards, the party has protested the plan and demanded Yoon resolve the issue through diplomacy with Tokyo.

mj6c2@koreatimes.co.kr