Opposition Party Launches All-Out Struggle Against Contaminated Water Discharge: "President Yoon Must Oppose Japan"

Democratic Party Holds Resolution Rally on the 7th After Overnight Sit-in
Justice Party Holds Meeting with Japan's Social Democratic Party to Discuss Opposition to Contaminated Water Discharge

The Democratic Party of Korea urges the government to express its ‘opposition’ stance regarding the issue of the discharge of contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan, and will hold overnight sit-ins and resolution rallies.

Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party, called on people through social media on the 6th to gather at the ‘Resolution Rally to Oppose the Yoon Seok-yeol Government’s Contaminated Water Dumping’ held on the steps in front of the National Assembly main building on the 7th, stating, "We will use every possible method in the National Assembly to prevent the dumping of contaminated water."

The Democratic Party will conduct an emergency action starting at 7 p.m. that evening, with all party members participating in relay filibuster speeches and overnight sit-ins. Following this, at 11 a.m. on the 7th, party members of the National Assembly, local councilors, party officials, and aides will hold a resolution rally urging the government to oppose the dumping of contaminated water.

Park Kwang-on, floor leader of the Democratic Party, said at a policy coordination meeting held at the National Assembly, "President Yoon needs to accurately convey the will of the people, 85% of whom oppose this issue, to Japan even at this late stage," adding, "The public is expecting this." Park also stated, "It is not too late to file a case with the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea and to put the Fukushima nuclear-contaminated water on the agenda and make it a key issue at this year’s London Protocol meeting. We request the government to mobilize all diplomatic efforts to continuously discuss this issue within the framework of the London Convention and Protocol."

Park Kwang-on, floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is speaking at the policy coordination meeting held at the National Assembly on the 6th. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

He explained, "The Democratic Party will launch an emergency action to block the Fukushima nuclear-contaminated water discharge into the ocean, with all our party’s National Assembly members participating for 17 hours from 7 p.m. today until tomorrow." Park added, "It took 17 hours from the loss of cooling of the reactor to meltdown during the Fukushima nuclear accident." He emphasized, "If nuclear-contaminated water is dumped into the sea, there is a concern that public safety could fall into a meltdown. This is a strong warning to the president, the government, and the People Power Party. For 17 hours, our government will point out the problems in the final report to the IAEA Secretary-General and officially oppose Japan’s dumping of contaminated water."

Democratic Party lawmakers Woo Won-shik, Wi Seong-gon, and Yang Yi-won-young, who are currently fasting in protest against the contaminated water discharge policy, plan to hold a briefing for foreign journalists on the same day to argue that the contaminated water discharge plan threatens the safety of the Korean people and infringes on sovereignty.

Meanwhile, the Justice Party will hold a meeting at the National Assembly in the afternoon with members of the Japanese Social Democratic Party (Samin Party), who oppose the ocean discharge of nuclear-contaminated water.

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