Protesters have confronted the head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog during a visit to South Korea in an attempt to calm fears over Japan’s plan to discharge treated radioactive water from its Fukushima plant.
Rafael Grossi, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, arrived in Seoul on Friday to meet the foreign minister and a top nuclear safety official during a three-day visit after his trip to Japan.
Earlier in the week, the IAEA said a two-year review showed Japan’s plans for the water release from the tsunami-hit plant would have a negligible effect on the environment.
His arrival at Gimpo airport was met with protests, local media reported, despite the South Korean government’s announcement that it respected the IAEA’s report and that its own analysis had found the release would not have “any meaningful impact” on its waters.
Hundreds of people, including members of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, took to the streets on Saturday to protest against the plan.
“It makes little sense to argue that the release is OK because it does not harm humans. Animals also live in the ocean,” said a university student, Kim Han-bi.
No expert behind the IAEA’s Fukushima report disagreed with the content, Grossi told the news agency Yonhap on Saturday, hinting at his comment during an interview with Reuters a day earlier that one or two team members may have expressed concerns.
On Sunday, Grossi is due to meet members of the opposition Democratic party of Korea, which has been critical of the Japanese plan.
The administration of President Yoon Suk-yeol has walked a fine line over Japan’s discharge proposal as it tries to improve ties with Tokyo. Despite its assent for the plan, a ban on food and seafood products from the Fukushima region remains in place and some concerned shoppers have bought up sea salt.
The opposition Democratic party leader, Lee Jae-myung, has said the government should try to halt the plan and take the case to the international tribunal for the law of the sea.
English (US)