[Exclusive] National Assembly to Hold Emergency Inquiry Tomorrow on 'Fukushima Field Inspection Team'

Jeongmuwi Urgent Fukushima Issue Inquiry on the Morning of the 17th
Focused Questioning of the Office for Government Policy Coordination Overseeing the Pan-Government TF

The National Assembly will conduct an emergency inquiry tomorrow (17th) morning targeting the Prime Minister's Office Coordination Office regarding the inspection team for the Fukushima nuclear power plant contaminated water. The purpose is to hear explanations about the scope and items of the inspection currently being coordinated between South Korea and Japan, and to receive information shared by the Japanese government about the contaminated water discharge.

According to the National Assembly on the 16th, the Political Affairs Committee will hold an emergency inquiry targeting the Coordination Office, including Park Gu-yeon, the first deputy director of the office. Around 10 a.m. tomorrow, after handling the report on the confirmation hearing for Park Min-sik, the first Minister of Patriots and Veterans Affairs, the committee will proceed with the emergency inquiry related to the Fukushima response.

This emergency inquiry serves as a preliminary inquiry before the Fukushima visit. After the inspection team visit starting on the 23rd, a follow-up inquiry will also be conducted. Visit-gyu Bang, head of the Coordination Office, is expected to attend the follow-up inquiry.

At tomorrow's meeting, questions are expected to arise regarding information obtained by the task force (TF) led by the Coordination Office, which has been overseeing the response to Fukushima contaminated water at the inter-ministerial level. There will likely be inspections and evaluations concerning the nature and scope of the Fukushima inspection team and the detailed contents of the safety review.

A Political Affairs Committee official said, “Given the gravity of the matter, the emergency inquiry schedule was urgently set through consensus between the ruling and opposition party floor leaders and the committee chair’s decision,” adding, “It will be an occasion for the National Assembly to emphasize the inspection items that must be conducted.”

[Image source=Yonhap News]

South Korea and Japan have agreed on a 3-night, 4-day visit to Japan, including the dates of the 23rd and 24th, for the dispatch of South Korea’s Fukushima nuclear power plant contaminated water inspection team. However, the two countries have not reached an agreement on the nature of the Korean inspection team.

The main issue is the scope of verification by the Korean inspection team. It is known that the activities of the Korean inspection team are closer to “on-site confirmation,” which involves directly observing the entire process of contaminated water purification facilities and discharge, rather than independent verification such as “sample collection.”

The South Korean government emphasizes that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is conducting analysis through sample collection, and that Dr. Kim Hong-seok from the Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety (KINS) is included in the IAEA verification task force (TF), meaning South Korea is effectively participating in sample collection analysis.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The Japanese government has purified the Fukushima nuclear power plant contaminated water once using the Advanced Liquid Processing System (ALPS) and stored it in water tanks within the nuclear power plant site. However, as forecasts emerged that these tanks would soon reach saturation, Japan decided in April 2021 to discharge the contaminated water into the ocean as the disposal method within the Fukushima nuclear power plant.

Earlier this month, the IAEA announced in an interim report that the contaminated water verification results showed “no issues.” It judged that major radionuclides were not excluded from the radioactive nuclide inspection targets of the Japanese regulatory authorities. Once the final report is released around next month, Japan is highly likely to proceed with the discharge during the summer.