“It’s Impossible,” People Power Party Dismisses the Idea of an Inflow of Cesium as Outrageous

Contaminated Water Purifier Sent to the Japanese Embassy: On June 7, the eve of World Oceans Day, activists of Green Korea and Lee Je-seok, head of the Lee Je-seok Advertisement Research Center, take part in a performance, delivering a water purifier attached to a drum of contaminated water from Fukushima to the Japanese Embassy, in front of the Japanese Embassy in Jongno-gu, Seoul. Kim Chang-gil

On June 7, People Power Party (PPP) lawmaker Sung Il-jong spoke about the Japanese press coverage on the cesium that was found in the Korean rockfish caught in the port of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan--nearly 180 times the legal standard. He argued, “I think it (cesium) was found in sedentary fish species, but there is no possibility of that (cesium) flowing into our waters.” The ruling People Power Party tried to disperse public opinion by mentioning the wastewater from uranium mining in North Korea and China’s release of tritium.

Sung, who heads a PPP “task force for verification to protect our seas,” met with reporters after an expanded meeting of the task force Wednesday and said, “Cesium is composed of many molecules, and it sinks because it is heavier than water.” Earlier, the Japanese press reported the results of a test conducted on a Korean rockfish caught last month in the port of the Fukushima nuclear power plant. The test was conducted by Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), and it detected 18,000 becquerels of radioactive cesium, 180 times the amount (100 becquerels per kg) permitted by Japan’s Food Sanitation Act.

Yoo Gook-hee, chair of the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission and leader of the field inspection team to examine the contaminated water in Fukushima, explained, “The Tokyo Electric Power Company collects fish samples from the waters off the Fukushima power plant and releases the results about once a month,” and said, “It (cesium) sinks and becomes an underwater sediment, and they often discover more than the standard from fish off the coast of Fukushima.”

The government and the ruling PPP announced Wednesday that they decided to inspect any possible contamination or pollution of seawater and marine products from South Korean waters more meticulously to ease public anxiety. Lawmaker Sung said, “We are collecting seawater from 52 locations in South Korea, and we requested additional locations,” and added, “We also asked authorities to be more thorough in inspecting marine products and asked them to measure radioactivity.” The PPP legislator also said, “They haven’t even released it (contaminated water) yet, but the sale of fry has practically dried up,” and explained that the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries would carefully monitor any future damage experienced by fishermen and take necessary measures.

The PPP also raised concerns of North Korea and China releasing radioactive substances, in what seems to be an attempt to disperse public attention, which is currently focused on the contaminated water from Fukushima. Sung said, “North Korea mines uranium ores in the Pyongsan Mine and extracts the uranium by mixing the ores with chemicals. In this process, various radioactive materials are produced, and they flow into the Yellow Sea through the Ryesong River. We have asked the Ministry of Science and ICT for measures in response to this problem.” He also said, “The amount of tritium coming out from China is also significant, so we asked the government to monitor this as well.”

In the opening remark of the government and PPP meeting Wednesday, the participants defined the issue raised by the Democratic Party of Korea on the contaminated water from Fukushima as “ludicrous” and stressed the fact that South Korean fishermen could suffer losses. The PPP floor leader Yun Jae-ok said, “Last weekend, the Democratic Party leadership engaged in an outdoor rally in Busan and made a ridiculous and unproven argument that our fishermen would all die because of the contaminated water from Fukushima,” and criticized that it was the same as with the mad cow disease in the past.

Minister of Oceans and Fisheries Cho Seung-hwan explained that the government reviewed a simulation of the spread of contaminated water from the nuclear power plant jointly conducted by the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute and the Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology in January, and said, “Even if Japan releases the maximum volume of water stated in its plan, we expect the impact on our waters to be insignificant.”