Korean team to inspect Fukushima on May 23 and 24

Korea will dispatch on May 23 and 24 a group of experts to Japan's ruined Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant to inspect its planned release of treated water into the Pacific Ocean, the Foreign Ministry said Monday...

File photo taken on Oct. 12, 2017 shows huge tanks that store treated radioactive wastewater at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Fukushima, Japan. [XINHUA/YONHAP]

Korea will dispatch on May 23 and 24 a group of experts to Japan's ruined Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant to inspect its planned release of treated water into the Pacific Ocean, the Foreign Ministry said Monday.

The team is expected to meet with officials from Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and Tokyo Electric Power Company, and inspect an undersea tunnel that will be used in discharging the contaminated water into the sea.

A director-general-level consultation will be held between Tokyo and Seoul in the near future to discuss further details, the Foreign Ministry said.

A massive earthquake and tsunami struck Japan on March 11, 2011, destroying the Fukushima nuclear power plant.

Japan decided in 2021 to release treated radioactive water stored in tanks at the plant into the ocean, a move neighboring countries and environmental groups have protested.

The Korean inspection team will be dispatched separately from inspections conducted by international experts through the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Korea wouldn’t be the first one to do so, as a group of experts from Taiwan, which is not a member of the IAEA, had led an inspectional visit to the site in March.

The Japanese government intends to release treated water from the Fukushima plant into the ocean this summer, under the guidance of the IAEA.

People hold banners during a rally demanding the withdrawal of Japanese government's decision to release treated radioactive water from the Fukushima, in Seoul on April 6. [AP/YONHAP]

The decision to allow a group of Korean experts into the country to inspect the site was announced after the summit between President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Seoul on Sunday.

Kishida was reciprocating a visit by Yoon to Tokyo in March, the first of its kind to take place in 12 years and coming on the heels of an announcement by the Korean government to resolve the issue of compensating Korean victims of Japan's wartime forced labor, a matter that had significantly soured bilateral ties in recent years.

Kishida also met with Korean lawmakers on Monday, including People Power Party Rep. Chung Jin-suk and Democratic Party Rep. Yun Ho-jung.

“I am grateful that the bipartisan meetings between the parliaments of Japan and Korea have acted as a bridge between the two countries,” Kishida was quoted by media outlets to have said during the meeting, alluding to the souring of relations between Korea and Japan in recent years. “I look forward to continuing active exchanges between the members of the parliaments.”

Yun told the press afterward that Korean lawmakers in the meeting shared with Kishida the concerns of the Korean public on possible health effects from the expected release of treated radioactive water from Fukushima.

“We asked the prime minister to look into the matter even after the Korean inspection team has left the site, so that there can be continued bilateral conversation on the issue,” Yun said.

Chung in the press briefing alluded to Kishida’s comments after his summit with Yoon about inheriting the historical awareness of previous cabinets of Japan when it comes to addressing issues stemming from the 1910-45 Japanese colonial rule over Korea.

“The back-and-forth visits of the leaders are not going to solve all issues at once,” Chung told the press on Monday. “But I think the gesture he made, in coming here with messages of reconciliation meant for the victims of forced labor, was something.”

Kishida also met with executives of several major Korean companies before flying out Monday.

BY ESTHER CHUNG [chung.juhee@joongang.co.kr]