Joint Outdoor Rally of Four Opposition Parties Condemning Japan's Contaminated Water... "Yoon Government, Accomplice to Terror"

The four opposition parties?the Democratic Party of Korea, the Justice Party, the Basic Income Party, and the Progressive Party?held a large-scale outdoor rally in the heart of Seoul on the 26th to condemn Japan's discharge of contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant into the ocean.

The intensity of their attacks against the Yoon Suk-yeol administration was also raised significantly, labeling it as "an accomplice to nuclear contaminated water terrorism" and "Japan's errand runner."

The rally was jointly hosted by the four opposition parties and the civic group "Action to Stop Japan's Radioactive Contaminated Water Ocean Dumping." The organizers claimed that a total of 50,000 people gathered in front of the Korea Press Center in Jung-gu, Seoul, where the rally took place.

Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party, said in his speech, "Japan has crossed a line that should never be crossed," and criticized, "The discharge of nuclear contaminated water is a declaration of war against the Pacific coastal countries."

He continued, "Japan is trying to revive the Pacific War, in which it invaded and slaughtered humanity worldwide with guns and swords, through environmental crimes," and demanded, "Japan must apologize to South Korea, the closest country and the most severely affected."

Democratic Party of Korea leader Lee Jae-myung is shouting related slogans at the "National Rally Against the Discharge of Fukushima Contaminated Water" held near the Seoul Press Center on the afternoon of the 26th.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

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Lee said, "When Japan hesitated to discharge the water while watching its neighboring countries, the person who most rationalized and supported this atrocity was President Yoon Suk-yeol," and added, "President Yoon must remember that he is not Japan's errand runner but the representative of the Korean people."

He then addressed President Yoon and the ruling party, saying, "Power is temporary, but the people are eternal," and emphasized, "The people may be suppressed temporarily by force, but they will never be oppressed, and we will prove that such a regime will inevitably be judged."

Bae Jin-kyo, floor leader of the Justice Party, raised his voice, saying, "Our seas will now be divided into before and after the dumping of nuclear contaminated water, facing an irreversible dark 30 years, or even a century," and added, "As much as the Japanese government, the Yoon Suk-yeol administration, an accomplice to nuclear contaminated water terrorism, is infuriating."

He criticized, "The president, who hurled all kinds of slanders at the opposition parties calling them 'interest cartels' and conspiracy groups, has not uttered a single word about Japan's nuclear contaminated water," and shot back, "Where is President Yoon who promised to take full responsibility?"

Yong Hye-in of the Basic Income Party and Kang Sung-hee of the Progressive Party also took the podium one after another to jointly criticize the Japanese government and the Yoon Suk-yeol administration.

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