S. Korean gov't asks DP chief not to stir up public anxiety over Fukushima wastewater
정부 "핵폐수 용어 자제" '후쿠시마 1조분의1 농도' 반박도 With Japan's Fukushima wastewater release approaching amid the issue becoming more politically charged, it says it opposes instigating public anxiety with provocative expressions, apparently targeting the main opposition. Our political correspondent Han Seong-woo has more. Without referring to him by name, the South Korean government has asked the Chairman of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea Lee Jae-myung to refrain from using expressions like "nuclear wastewater" to refer to the radioactive water Japan plans to start discharging from Fukushima into the Pacific Ocean this summer. "Choosing to use words like that stimulate excessive and unnecessary anxiety among the public. And the contraction in consumption that comes with it can inflict irreversible damage on fishermen and the fisheries industry as a whole." Vice Minister of Oceans and Fisheries Song Sang-keun added during Monday's regular briefing on the Fukushima wastewater issue that recent news articles reporting that the contaminated water can reach the East Sea five to seven months after being discharged is not true. His words were echoed by the head of Seoul National University's Research Institute of Oceanography Cho Yang-ki. "Due to the large-scale circulation of seawater, it's estimated the radioactive water released from Fukushima will reach the waters of South Korea in about ten years if it moves along the ocean currents." But should the wastewater reach the coastal waters of Jeju in seven months, as suggested by the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres in Germany, Director Cho said that the concentration levels of the radioactive material there would be one-trillionth of the levels found near the shores of Fukushima. "We're interpreting it as the near equivalent to the concentration levels of a drop of ink dropped into the Han River that is completely diluted after being dispersed underwater." Data from the Korea Customs Service, meanwhile, showed that South Korean imports of Japanese seafood, in terms of amount, plunged by more than 30 percent last month compared to May of last year likely in large part due to contamination concerns as the Fukushima wastewater release approaches. In response to such concerns, the government and the ruling People Power Party agreed during a policy consultation meeting on Sunday to increase the number of sites testing seawater radioactivity levels from the current 92 locations to 200. Han Seong-woo, Arirang News. #SouthKorea #Japan #Government #Fukushima #Wastewater #정부 #후쿠시마 #오염수 #Arirang_News #아리랑뉴스 📣 Facebook : / arirangtvnews 📣 Twitter : / arirangtvnews 📣 Homepage : https://v2.arirang.com/ 2023-06-19, 18:00 (KST)
