South Korea maintains ban on imports of seafood from Fukushima

June 21 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The South Korean authorities have defended this Wednesday that they will maintain the ban on the import of fishery products from the Fukushima region, which was seriously affected by the 2011 nuclear disaster, despite the fact that Japan has announced that it will not appeal the decision before the World Trade Organization.

Park Ku Yeon, ‘number two’ of the South Korean Government Policy Coordination Office, has stressed that the authorities “take the safety and health of the population very seriously” during a press conference on the matter as that Japan is preparing, precisely, to dump the treated water from the plant into the sea.

“The changes in Japanese policy do not affect the government’s position on the import ban on these products,” he said, according to information collected by the Yonhap news agency.

His words come after Tokyo has decided not to resort to the World Trade Organization to settle the matter and advocated to avoid further pressure on Seoul on this issue. The ban in question affects eight Japanese prefectures near Fukushima and dates back to 2013, when the measure was imposed due to the increase in radiation levels after the nuclear disaster.

In 2015, the Japanese authorities filed a complaint with the organization to protest against the South Korean decision, which called for additional tests to ensure the quality of these products. However, the organization rejected that the measure had “discriminatory” reasons and endorsed the decision.

Given the increase in controversy surrounding this issue, the South Korean government holds weekly press conferences to keep the population abreast of progress regarding the release of treated water from the plant.