The agreement by the South Korean and Japanese leaders on Sunday to send a South Korean inspection team to Tokyo Electric Power Company’s (TEPCO) Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant raises concerns that South Korea could be caught in a trap of lending legitimacy to Japan’s release of contaminated water and resuming imports of agricultural and marine products that have been banned until now.
To avoid becoming stuck in such a trap, whether it opposes the release or pushes for a postponement Seoul will need to be clear and consistent in its stance on the release of contaminated water based on data Korean experts collect during their visit.
South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated on Monday that a ministerial-level meeting will be held to discuss the details of the inspection team to be sent to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant on May 23-24.
It also shared that the on-site inspection team will consist of experts from relevant government agencies and affiliated organizations.
The rush to organize working-level procedures seems to be based on the fact that the decision to dispatch an expedition itself came suddenly.
A presidential office official told reporters after the summit on Sunday that the visit would be “more than a mere tour,” and expressed the hope that it would be “possible to investigate the substances and elements [in the contaminated water] together.”
South Korea won a World Trade Organization dispute in April 2019, claiming that Japan’s waters off its coast, where radioactive material leaked from the Fukushima nuclear disaster, were a “potential hazard.”
Japan blames South Korea, which has maintained a ban on imports, for propagating the notion that Fukushima seafood is unsafe. According to data from Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, 55 countries and territories have imposed export restrictions since the Fukushima nuclear disaster, but only five, including South Korea and China, have banned imports.
China has taken a strong stance against the release of contaminated water, and Pacific Island nations, which will be the first to feel any effects of the release, have called for the release to be delayed.
On the other hand, while highlighting public health concerns for its people, South Korea has remained ambiguous about the discharge.
Song Ki-ho, a lawyer specializing in international trade, criticized the government in a release that read, “The government has received data on contaminated water from Japan four times during the past two years. But so far, it hasn’t made any evaluation or analysis.”