It is expected that a council between Korea and Japan will be launched to deal with the issue of contaminated water with radioactive materials from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan.
The Asahi Shimbun reported that the Japanese government is considering a proposal to form a bilateral consultative body requested by the South Korean government regarding the decision to dispose of contaminated water from Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant by ocean discharge.
Earlier, on the 14th, an official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Korea said that it is necessary to communicate the position of Korea and obtain additional information separately from the verification process through the International Atomic Energy Agency IAEA, and that it is considering a plan to hold a bilateral consultation.
It is known that the Korean government has already tried to operate a consultative body on the Japanese side to discuss the safety of contaminated water discharged from the ocean by participating not only among diplomatic authorities but also experts.
In response, the Japanese government has delivered an intention to accept the official request from the Korean government.
It is reported that the Japanese government is considering a plan to allow the Nuclear Regulatory Authority, a regulatory authority, and Tokyo Electric Power, the operator of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, to participate in the consultative body in addition to the Resource and Energy Agency under the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry in charge of decommissioning.
The Japanese government decided to dispose of contaminated water that was continuously discharged from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, which had a core melting accident due to a failure of a cooling system during the Great East Japan Earthquake in March 2011, and which has now increased to over 1.25 million tons, flowing into the adjacent Pacific Ocean. We decided on the 13th of last month.
The Japanese government has announced that it will purify the contaminated water with a device called a multi-nuclide removal facility to reduce the concentration of the polluted water below the international standard and release it.
However, contaminated water, which the Japanese government calls treated water, contains some radioactive substances such as tritium, which can cause damage even if the pollutant concentration is lowered, and South Korea and China are strongly opposed to ocean discharge.
On the same day that the Japanese government decided to dispose of contaminated water at sea, the South Korean government protested, inviting Japanese Ambassador Koichi Aiboshi to Korea, and the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs also protested that "it will cause serious damage to neighboring countries."
Foreign Minister Eui-yong Eui, who met Japanese Foreign Minister Motegi Toshimitsu in the UK, where the G7 Foreign Ministers' Meeting of 7 major countries was held on the 5th, pointed out that the Japanese government's decision to release contaminated water was made without sufficient prior consultation with neighboring countries, and conveyed a clear opposition. I did.
Minister Chung stressed that the discharge of contaminated water from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant could pose a potential threat to the health and safety of the Korean people and to the marine environment, and that a cautious approach should be made.
However, Foreign Minister Motegi expressed concern over the ROK government's response to the Japanese government's decision to release.