Government: "Fukushima Fish Species Almost Impossible to Reach Korea"... To Release 'Contaminated Water Rumor Data Collection'

Distribution of Compiled Incorrect Information
Form Seafood Radiation Testing
Significant Expansion from 2,000 to 6,000 Cases

On the 12th, the government stated, "The species in the Fukushima sea and those in our waters have separate habitats, so the possibility of them crossing over to our coastal areas is almost none."

At the Fukushima daily briefing held at the Seoul Government Complex on the same day, Park Gu-yeon, the First Deputy Minister of State Affairs, said, "There are still cases where information completely different from the facts is repeatedly spread." He also corrected, "There are concerns about whether salt would be contaminated if contaminated water is discharged, but the tritium concentration is initially low, and during the production process of solar salt, all tritium evaporates, so there is absolutely no possibility that salt produced in our seas would be contaminated."

Park stated that he compiled these incorrect pieces of information into a booklet and plans to distribute it to community service centers and public libraries within this week. It will also be uploaded in electronic document form on the official website of the Republic of Korea.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The four recommendations derived from South Korea's independent verification of Japan's contaminated water discharge plan have not yet been officially delivered to the Japanese side. In response to related questions, Park said, "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and related departments have been continuously holding director-general level consultations with Japan, and plans to discuss further once any form of meeting is scheduled."

Previously, the government recommended △ shortening the inspection cycle due to repeated failures of the ALPS crossflow filter △ additional measurements of five radionuclides not measured at the ALPS outlet but measured at the K4 tank during the annual inlet and outlet concentration measurements of ALPS △ re-performing radiation impact assessments if the radionuclide radiation amounts for Japanese residents (Senwon Port) are underestimated △ and conducting resident exposure dose assessments based on actual discharge amounts.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the same day, Park Seong-hoon, Vice Minister of Oceans and Fisheries, explained plans to expand radiation inspections at aquaculture farms. The core of the plan is to conduct additional inspections on the top 15 species, which account for 98% of the total production among 51 seafood items produced in 12,411 aquaculture fishing rights. Vice Minister Park said, "We plan to conduct a total of 6,000 inspections by adding more than 4,000 inspections through private inspection agencies to the 2,000 inspections currently planned by the government." He added, "If the safety of each sea area and seafood is confirmed through this, we plan to issue safety certificates to producers in the relevant sea areas upon application in cooperation with the Fisheries Cooperative."

He also added, "We are considering various measures to ensure that the public can be fully confident about the origin of products at approximately 20,000 retail stores nationwide."