Ha Tae-kyung: "Fishermen Suffer Due to Democratic Party's Agitation... Compensation Claims Should Be Filed"

Hataekyung, Ruling Party Lawmaker, SBS Radio Interview
"Opposition's Objection to Contaminated Water Discharge Is Unfounded and Stubborn"

As the Democratic Party of Korea continues its offensive to block the discharge of contaminated water from Fukushima, Japan, Ha Tae-kyung, a member of the People Power Party, said, "I believe sashimi restaurants and fishermen should file for damages against the Democratic Party."

On the 14th, Ha appeared on SBS Radio's 'Kim Tae-hyun's Political Show' and pointed out, "The most important issue right now is the damage to our fishermen and sashimi restaurants," adding, "There is no impact on Korean seafood, but the Democratic Party keeps agitating as if there is an effect."

He said, "If the opposition to the discharge is baseless, what will happen? Japan will still discharge the water, right?" and added, "Then we will have to take measures such as banning the import of Japanese seafood as sanctions."

On the morning of the 10th of last month, Ha Tae-kyung, the chairman, is speaking at the 5th meeting of the People Power Party's Special Committee for the Advancement of Civic Groups held at the National Assembly Members' Office Building. Photo by Yonhap News

He continued, "If we ban the import of Japanese seafood, do you think Japan will just stand by? Japan will ban the import of Korean seafood," and pointed out, "Currently, both countries are banning seafood imports, but who suffers? Our seafood exports are three to four times greater than the seafood we import from Japan."

He added, "Who bears that damage? Our fishermen, distributors, and our people suffer," he said.

He said, "So if there is evidence, we oppose (the contaminated water discharge), but the Democratic Party cannot present any opposition grounds now and is just making loud claims without basis," adding, "They say it could be discharged domestically, used as industrial or agricultural water, something like that."

Regarding the recent claim by the People Power Party that over 80% of the personnel composition of the 2008 'Mad Cow Disease National Countermeasures Committee' and the 'Fukushima Joint Action (Joint Action to Stop the Marine Dumping of Japanese Radioactive Contaminated Water)' are the same, and that there is a force leading 'rumor agitation,' he said, "For nearly 10 years, professional rumor protesters have existed," adding, "Before mad cow disease, there was the 2002 Hyo-sun and Mi-sun incident, which was a kind of traffic accident, but the opposition party framed it as the U.S. military committing murder."

He said, "In the past, Hyo-sun and Mi-sun were all confirmed in court proceedings, but unfortunately, it was a traffic accident and not an intentional murder," and added, "There were all kinds of rumors about mad cow disease at the time."

Ha criticized, "The problem is that people have never apologized or reflected on spreading fake news," and said, "So they keep lying and pushing our society into conflict and confusion."

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