Seoul to fight Japan’s plan to dump Fukushima water
South Korean President Moon Jae-in ordered officials yesterday to explore moving an international court over Japan’s decision to release water from its Fukushima nuclear plant, his spokesman said, amid protests by fisheries and environmental groups.
Japan unveiled plans on Tuesday to release more than 1 million tonnes of contaminated water into the sea from the plant crippled by a 2011 earthquake and tsunami, starting in about two years after filtering it to remove harmful isotopes.
The Fukushima plant holds more than 1.25 million tonnes of wastewater in more than 1,000 tanks. The process of cooling the three reactors damaged in the 2011 earthquake and tsunami generates more than 150 additional tonnes a day.
South Korea strongly protested against the decision, summoning Koichi Aiboshi, Tokyo’s ambassador in Seoul, and convening an intra-agency emergency meeting to craft its response.
Mr Moon, at a separate meeting yesterday, called for looking into ways to refer Japan’s move to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, his spokesman Kang Min-seok told a briefing.
Mr Moon also expressed concerns about the decision as Mr Aiboshi presented his credentials, having arrived in South Korea in February for the ambassador’s post.
“I cannot but say that there are much concerns here about the decision as a country that is geologically closest and shares the sea with Japan,” Mr Moon said, asking Mr Aiboshi to convey such worries to Tokyo, according to spokesman Kang.
Even in Japan, the idea of pouring water, whether treated or not, from the crippled plant into the ocean is unpopular.
In a national poll late last year by the Japanese daily The Asahi Shimbun, 55% of respondents surveyed opposed the plan.