Opposition Forces Push Through Resolution to Withdraw Japan's Nuclear Wastewater Discharge... Ruling Party Says "Hearing Agreement Broken"

On the 30th, the National Assembly adopted a resolution led by the opposition party urging Japan to withdraw its plan to discharge contaminated water from Fukushima. The ruling party opposed the opposition's forced passage of the resolution, claiming that the hearing related to the contaminated water discharge was canceled.

On the same day, the National Assembly held a plenary session and passed a revised resolution titled "Resolution Urging the Withdrawal of the Fukushima Contaminated Water Discharge Plan and the Establishment of Measures to Ensure Seafood Safety and Protect Fishermen." In this vote, 172 members attended while members of the People Power Party walked out, with 171 in favor and 1 abstention.

The resolution pointed out that "the Fukushima accident is classified as a major accident corresponding to the highest level 7 on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES), the same level as the Chernobyl accident, the worst nuclear accident in human history," and stated, "This means that it is not simply contaminated water but nuclear waste being discharged into the ocean. The resulting marine pollution is a disaster affecting all humanity and could impose a fatal burden on future generations. Not only the direct damage from radioactive contaminated water but also the possibility of radioactive contamination of seafood could cause devastating damage to the fishing industry." It further stated, "The Assembly resolves that it will never tolerate any measures by the Japanese government that could harm the health of our people, including food safety such as seafood, related to the treatment of radioactive contaminated water generated by the Fukushima nuclear accident, and urges the government to prepare and implement effective measures."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Specifically, the resolution calls for the Japanese government to suspend its plan to discharge contaminated water, to file a lawsuit and request provisional measures at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea regarding the discharge, to expand monitoring of radioactive substances in Korean waters, to take measures to minimize damage to the fishing industry, and for an independent third-party expert group separate from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to participate in all verification processes of the nuclear power plant contaminated water.

The resolution passed this time was the one approved by the National Assembly's Agriculture, Food, Rural Affairs, Oceans and Fisheries Committee on the 27th. The Democratic Party revised the wording of the committee's resolution into a National Assembly resolution and reintroduced it under the names of all its members. Although the resolution was not originally on the agenda, the Democratic Party requested a change in the agenda, resulting in the voting procedure.

The ruling party strongly opposed the opposition's forced passage of the resolution.

Yoon Jae-ok, floor leader of the People Power Party, told reporters immediately after the vote, "The bipartisan agreement related to the Fukushima hearing has been broken." Previously, the ruling and opposition parties had agreed on a national investigation into the Fukushima contaminated water hearing and the Central Election Commission's 'hiring favoritism allegations.' Regarding this, Yoon criticized, "(The Democratic Party) should no longer insist on the hearing," and said, "(The resolution) was supposed to be handled after some time with mutual understanding, but they violated the agreement." He expressed dissatisfaction with the opposition's unilateral adoption of the resolution, saying, "It is extremely rare for the National Assembly to pass a resolution without bipartisan agreement."

Regarding the resolution, the ruling and opposition parties also engaged in debates for and against it.

Ahn Byung-gil, a member of the People Power Party, argued, "The Democratic Party is exploiting the fear of contaminated water solely to win elections and votes, and even if science later proves them right, they will just escape by saying 'then it's fortunate,'" and added, "If they have any shame left, they should immediately abandon their hypocritical resolution and the arrogant attitude that they can still shake our people with rumors."

Democratic Party member Yoon Jae-gap, who spoke in favor, targeted People Power Party members who tasted seafood, saying, "The government and ruling party ignored establishing fundamental measures even during my hunger strike opposing the contaminated water discharge and instead engaged in fish mukbang," and added, "They should rather live in Fukushima for about a week and do a Fukushima fish mukbang." Yoon warned, "Research institutes in Germany and China said that the contaminated water discharged from Fukushima would reach our waters in about a year," and said, "When humans, at the top of the food chain, consume radioactive contaminated fish, seaweed, and shellfish, radioactive substances concentrated along the food chain will eventually accumulate and expand in the human body."

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