Global Courant
SEOUL — The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog will meet with South Korea’s foreign minister and a top nuclear safety official on Saturday as part of an effort to allay fears over Japan’s plan to release treated radioactive water. discharge from the tsunami-hit factory in Fukushima.
Rafael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), arrived in South Korea on Friday after completing a trip to Japan, where the watchdog approved the plan to release wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear power plant into the ocean .
His arrival was met with protesters at Gimpo Airport in Seoul, local media reported.
Prior to that, Mr Grossi said at a press conference in Japan on Friday that he also wanted to meet with South Korea’s opposition party that was critical of the discharge plan.
South Korea’s government on Friday said it respected the IAEA’s report and that its own analysis found the release will not have a “meaningful impact” on its waters.
President Yoon Suk-yeol’s government has followed a fine line in its stance on Japan’s discharge proposal as it seeks to improve ties with Tokyo.
But the plan has sparked anger and concern among South Koreans, leading some customers to buy sea salt.
Despite South Korea’s agreement to the plan, a ban on food and fish products from the Fukushima region remains in place.
Opposition leader of the Democratic Party, Lee Jae-myung, has also said the government should try to stop the plan and take the matter to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. REUTERS
