Press Briefing

Spokesperson and Deputy Minister for Public Relations Kim In-chul

August 13, 2019  14:30  KST

Good afternoon. Let me start today’s briefing.

Let me talk about the position of the government of the Republic of Korea (ROK) regarding the matter on the treated water at Fukushima power station.

Shortly after initially receiving information on Japan’s plan to discharge treated water into the ocean in August 2018, the ROK government delivered a Non-Paper containing the ROK’s concern and requests to the government of Japan, and suggested having relevant discussions in bilateral and multilateral frameworks in October 2018.

Accordingly, the ROK government has consistently expressed concerns and has demanded explanations on the issue to the Japanese government in the wake of multilateral meetings such as the Inter-governmental Meeting of Northwest Pacific Action Plan and the Top Regulators’ Meeting among the ROK, China and Japan, as well as a series of bilateral meetings such as a director-general-level meeting between the ROK and Japan, the ROK-Japan Marine Environment Policy Meeting and the ROK-Japan Environment Joint Committee.

Furthermore, the ROK government has continued to ask the Japanese government to share information transparently and to have discussions on this issue in order not to deepen the ROK nationals’ concern and anxiety over the release of contaminated water at the Fukushima nuclear power station into the ocean after the Greenpeace released its investigation report in January 2019.

With regard to this, the Japanese government has continued to hold its basic position that it is still reviewing the final method and a specific period of time regarding the disposal of treated water in Fukushima, and that it will faithfully explain matters such as the current progress on contaminated water and a future disposal plan to the international community.

In response, the ROK government will put the health and safety of the ROK nationals on a top priority as it has been done so far; continue to monitor relevant issues such as the current progress in disposing of treated water at the Fukushima nuclear power station, as well as a disposal plan; and actively call for Japan to express its more concrete position and to promote open access to information.

In addition, the ROK government will, if necessary, actively respond to the problem of discharging treated water at the Fukushima nuclear power station by working closely with international organizations as well as the Pacific countries vulnerable to damage.

(A question-and-answer session followed.)