Ministry of Foreign Affairs: "No Imports of Japanese Fukushima Seafood Will Occur"

Plan for Contaminated Water Discharge Includes "Continued Participation in IAEA Safety Review"

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on the 4th that there are no plans to import seafood from Fukushima, Japan.

At a regular briefing that day, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lim said, "Although the Presidential Office has already announced this, there are absolutely no plans to import seafood from Fukushima, Japan," adding that seafood imports will not take place.

The Japanese government has been demanding the removal of import restrictions on seafood from Fukushima from our government. In particular, Japanese media reported that this issue was discussed at the Korea-Japan summit held last month, which sparked controversy.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Since September 2013, our government has banned the import of all seafood caught in Fukushima and eight neighboring prefectures. This is due to safety concerns following the explosion accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant during the Great East Japan Earthquake in March 2011.

Regarding the planned release of radioactive contaminated water stored on the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant site into the ocean in the first half of this year, spokesperson Lim said, "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is closely monitoring the situation on the Japanese side and will continue to demand responsible responses from Japan to ensure that the contaminated water is treated safely from a scientific and objective perspective and in accordance with international law and standards." He also stated that Korea will continue to participate in the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)'s safety reviews and monitoring activities.

Spokesperson Lim added, "Our government has requested information related to the discharge of contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant from the Japanese side and has been continuously reviewing and analyzing the data provided. We will continue to conduct analyses through ongoing consultations with Japan from scientific and technical perspectives."