Government: "No Proposal Received to Expand Japanese Seafood Imports... Import Ban on 8 Prefectures"

Park Seong-hoon, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, stated on the 13th that "we have not received such a proposal from the Japanese side" in response to some media reports that Japan is promoting the expansion of seafood exports to Korea.

At a daily briefing on contaminated water held at the Government Seoul Office on the same day, Vice Minister Park said, "The ban on seafood imports from eight prefectures near Fukushima remains unchanged and is applied without exception."

Earlier, a media outlet reported that Japan, centered on the Japan External Trade Organization, is considering expanding seafood exports to Korea.

Vice Minister Park emphasized, "Seafood imports that could pose a risk to the safety and health of our people will never enter our seas."

Regarding the '2nd Special Inspection on Origin Labeling of Imported Seafood,' which has been conducted since the 28th of last month, Vice Minister Park said that 9,384 locations have been inspected so far, and 47 companies violating origin labeling have been detected.

There are 37 cases of missing origin labels and 10 cases of false labeling. Among them, seven companies failed to label the origin as 'Japanese,' and three companies falsely labeled it as such.

On the 13th, to celebrate "Wednesday is the day to eat our aquatic products," Park Seonghun, Vice Minister of Oceans and Fisheries, visited the government Seoul office cafeteria in Jongno-gu, Seoul, received grilled fish made from domestic seafood, and moved to his seat. Photo by Jo Yongjun jun21@