Government: "Radiation Survey in Japan's Territorial Waters Impossible Without Sovereign Nation's Consent"

"IAEA Sample Analysis Involves Korean Research Institute... No Additional Work Needed"

On the 18th, when asked whether sample collection investigations by the Korean government would be conducted in the waters near the Fukushima nuclear power plant, the government responded, "Collecting samples within Japanese territorial waters, not in international waters, is clearly impossible without mutual consent between sovereign nations."

According to the government, the seawater samples directly collected and independently investigated by Korea cover 200 points within Korean waters and 8 points across 2 zones in Japanese international waters. Additionally, from next year, discussions are underway to begin investigations at 10 points near Pacific island countries.

Park Gu-yeon, First Deputy Minister of the Office for Government Policy Coordination, stated at the daily briefing on the Fukushima contaminated water discharge held at the Government Complex Seoul that morning, "The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is involved in Japan's own investigation, and the analysis work is proceeding with participation from our research institutions, so we judge that additional work plans are unnecessary."

Park Gu-yeon, First Deputy Minister of the Office for Government Policy Coordination, is briefing on future plans regarding the discharge of nuclear power plant contaminated water at the Government Complex Seoul in Jongno-gu, Seoul on the 4th. Photo by Jo Yong-jun jun21@

The Nuclear Safety and Security Commission announced that samples collected by Tokyo Electric Power Company within 10 points less than 3 km from the nuclear power plant between the 14th and 16th, and samples collected on the 13th at one point within 3 to 10 km from the plant, were all confirmed to be below the threshold for abnormal values.

Deputy Minister Park also addressed the 2015 attempt by a private committee under the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety to investigate near Fukushima, stating, "It did not proceed for the same reasons (sovereignty issues, etc.)," and emphasized, "That investigation was not related to the current discharge but was an evaluation of the impact of contaminated water released prior to this discharge."

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