Ha Tae-kyung: "Seafood Consumption Decline Is the Opposition's Responsibility... The Democratic Party Should Compensate with Their Funds"

"The opposition's true wish is to release around January next year"

Ha Tae-kyung, a member of the People Power Party, said regarding the discharge of contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan, "The consumption sentiment of seafood is shrinking because of the Democratic Party, not because of Japan."

In an interview on CBS Radio's 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show,' Rep. Ha claimed, "Among political parties worldwide, only South Korea's Democratic Party argues that our seafood is also at risk due to Japan's discharge, and South Korea is the only country where seafood consumption sentiment has shrunk because of this."

He pointed out, "If the seafood consumption sentiment in our country has shrunk because of Japan, then all countries around the Asia-Pacific should have also experienced a decline. In fact, Canada and the United States should be more affected than us because the distance (to where the contaminated water reaches) is shorter."

Ha Tae-kyung, member of the People Power Party. [Photo by Yonhap News]

Rep. Ha, who recently visited China, said, "Chinese people eat raw fish well because the Chinese Communist Party does not engage in agitation," and argued, "The Democratic Party must acknowledge responsibility for the decline in seafood consumption and compensate for the damages with Democratic Party funds."

When asked, "Wouldn't stopping the discharge of contaminated water itself prevent the decline in consumption?" he replied, "It is difficult to do so in the international community. We must acknowledge reality," adding, "This is not unconditional approval but conditional approval, and if any problems arise during the discharge process, the South Korean government will stop it."

Regarding the Democratic Party's earlier proposal to the government to request Japan to postpone the discharge for at least six months and seek alternative treatment methods other than ocean release, Rep. Ha said, "It revealed their true intention that they want the discharge to happen around January, and there is a political message behind it." He suggested that the calculation is that discharging the contaminated water around January next year, ahead of the general election, would be advantageous for the Democratic Party.

Rep. Ha added, "It was somewhat expected that the discharge would happen around July or August this year, and the talk of a six-month postponement reflects that (Democratic Party's) true intention."

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