Environmental Federation "Fukushima Korean Inspection Team... Concerns Over Japanese Government's Exoneration"

Vice Chairman of the Environment Federation Sea Committee, MBC Interview
"Inspection is just a quick look around... meaningless"

The Japanese government’s announcement that it will accept a Fukushima inspection team composed of Korean experts has been criticized by environmental groups as little more than lip service, calling it "an utterly insufficient measure to dispel the concerns of the majority of Korean citizens."

Choi Ye-yong, Vice Chairman of the Ocean Committee at the Korean Federation for Environmental Movements, appeared on MBC Radio's "Kim Jong-bae's Focus" on the 8th and said, "It is unclear where and how they will conduct the inspection, what the key issues are, and they are not granting the Korean inspection team significant authority nor committing to accept the findings. They are just going to take a look once, which will have almost no meaning," adding, "I fear this will serve only as a kind of pardon that reaffirms what the Japanese government has been claiming all along."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Regarding the composition of the inspection team, Vice Chairman Choi said, "When they go there, the industrial entities?the Japanese government and Tokyo Electric Power Company?will explain things on-site, and it will just be a tour," adding, "For it to have any meaning, there should be people included who explain why tritium is dangerous and discuss alternative options, but I doubt that will happen."

In response to reports from Japan’s Transport and Communications Ministry stating that they will accept the Korean inspection team’s visit on the 23rd, he said, "Seeing the exact date announced, I thought this was all prearranged," and added, "Specifying the date means they have already internally assembled the people available on that day, who are likely mostly government-affiliated personnel."

Vice Chairman Choi pointed out that once the contaminated water discharge begins, Fukushima seafood could be imported into Korea. If the Korean expert inspection team and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) conclude in their final report that the discharge poses no problem, Korea would lose grounds to impose restrictions on seafood imports from the Fukushima area.

He said, "If the Korean inspection team, mainly composed of members supportive of the nuclear plant, goes and reaches conclusions similar to those of the IAEA, they will say, 'The Korean government delegation also came and said it was fine, there is no problem.'"

Vice Chairman Choi added, "If there are concerns, they will be dismissed as minority views or as people opposing just for the sake of opposition, and the stance that there is no problem will be maintained. The Yoon Suk-yeol administration will likely continue with the same position."

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