S. Korea ‘mulling consultations with Japan’ over Fukushima plan

This undated aerial photo shows the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Okuma town, Fukushima prefecture, in January 2021. (KOTA ENDO / KYODO NEWS VIA AP)

SEOUL – South Korea is considering ways to have consultations with Japan over its plan to dump radioactive wastewater from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean, local media reported Friday, citing the foreign ministry.

Seoul is reportedly mulling ways to form a consultative body with Tokyo to let South Korean officials or experts visit the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant

An unnamed foreign ministry official was quoted by multiple local media as saying that the South Korean government was in a position that the bilateral consultations between Seoul and Tokyo would be necessary to deliver its stance and receive additional information, separately from the verification process via the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

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The official told reporters that Seoul was reviewing ways to hold the bilateral consultations over the issue.

Seoul is reportedly mulling ways to form a consultative body with Tokyo to let South Korean officials or experts visit the destroyed Fukushima nuclear plant and figure out situations around it.

Japan announced a plan in April to discharge the tritium-laced contaminated water of over 1.25 million tons, stored in tanks near the Fukushima plant, into the ocean in two years.

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