What Is the President Doing? Oh Gyuseok, Busan Gijang County Mayor, Starts Solo Protest in Front of Cheongwadae

Solo Protest Demanding Condemnation of Fukushima Radioactive Wastewater Ocean Discharge Decision

Immediate and Strong Sanctions Requested from Our Government

Busan Gijang County Governor Oh Gyu-seok, angered by the Japanese government's decision to discharge nuclear-contaminated water into the ocean, is holding a solo protest in front of the Blue House at 2 p.m. on the 27th. [Image source=Gijang County]

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-woo] “It is a regret that I cannot rush to the Japanese government immediately.” Why did the head of a basic local government hold a protest in front of the Blue House?

The mayor, angered at the Japanese government, held a one-person protest in front of the Blue House from 2 p.m. on the 27th. The reason was the inadequate national-level response to the decision to discharge contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant into the ocean.

Oh Gyu-seok, mayor of Gijang County, Busan, after holding one-person protests urging the withdrawal of the ‘ocean discharge’ decision in front of the Japanese Consulate in Busan on the 14th and the Embassy of Japan in Korea on the 19th, started a one-person protest in front of the Blue House at 2 p.m. that day, demanding active government action.

As the mayor overseeing the region bordering the East Sea, he believes a ‘two-track’ strategy is necessary to prevent marine damage.

He argues that ‘continuous protest against the Japanese government’ and ‘strong response from our government’ are needed to lead the Japanese government to withdraw its decision to discharge nuclear contaminated water into the ocean.

Mayor Oh has repeatedly raised his voice, saying, “We can never accept the unilateral decision by the Japanese government to discharge contaminated water into the ocean. We must define this as a ‘second Imjin War’ that kills our sea, fisheries, fishermen, and people, and fight to the end.”

He also stated, “Since this issue is directly related to the survival rights of our people, we demand immediate and strong sanctions at the government level.”

Mayor Oh urged the government to △ form a consultative body to grasp all information related to Fukushima nuclear contaminated water, △ cooperate with international organizations such as the IAEA to thoroughly verify Japan’s discharge plan and devise ways to continuously monitor it, and △ significantly expand the investigation points and frequency of seawater monitoring nationwide to strengthen monitoring.

He also demanded that transparent real-time information disclosure to the entire public must be ensured to secure the safety of seafood and do the utmost to alleviate public anxiety.

Prior to this, on the 21st, Mayor Oh held an expanded executive meeting attended by the head of the Kori Nuclear Power Plant Civil Environmental Monitoring Organization, emphasizing the need for prior investigation of radioactivity in seawater as the Japanese government plans to start discharging Fukushima radioactive contaminated water from 2023, and instructed to accumulate scientific factual evidence.

Additionally, Gijang County and the Kori Nuclear Power Plant Civil Environmental Monitoring Organization are planning to jointly increase the number of sampling points and significantly increase the frequency and number of radioactivity analyses of seawater along the coastal areas of Gijang County.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.