Rival parties swap Fukushima committee for NEC probe

The two parties will convene a special committee to review the release of radioactive water from the nuclear power plant in Fukushima and to launch a parliamentary investigation into the election oversight agency.

People Power Party Rep. Lee Yang-soo, left, and Democratic Party Rep. Song Ki-hun explains the parties’ agreement at the National Assembly, Thursday. [YONHAP]

The rival People Power Party (PPP) and the Democratic Party (DP) have given in to each other’s demands by reaching an agreement over two major controversial issues, the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant and the National Election Commission (NEC).

The two parties on Thursday announced that they will convene a special committee to review the release of radioactive water from the nuclear power plant in Fukushima, as consistently demanded by the DP.

In exchange, the DP has agreed to launch a parliamentary investigation into the election oversight agency, which has been mired in controversy surrounding allegations of nepotism and possible North Korean hacking attacks.

“The National Assembly will form a Fukushima special committee and hold a hearing,” said DP Rep. Song Ki-hun. “We plan to submit detail plans for the special committee next week and start working on selecting lawmakers that will be on the committee once it is approved.”

The Japanese nuclear power plant is reportedly in its final stage of discharging treated radioactive water into the ocean.

It has been two weeks since a team of 21 experts led by Yoo Guk-hee, the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission chairman, returned from inspecting the troubled nuclear power plant, particularly treatment facilities such as the Advanced Liquid Processing System and the K4 tanks that store the treated waters.

The team has yet to issue its report on the inspection as they are still waiting for additional data from the operators of the Japanese nuclear power plant.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on May 31 released a report on its findings on the nuclear power plant’s water, stating that “Tokyo Electric Power Corp. has demonstrated a high level of accuracy in their measurements and technical competence.”

The IAEA report also noted that neither the agency nor the participating third-party laboratories have detected “any additional radionuclides at a significant level.”

However, neither the inspection team’s latest visit nor the report from the IAEA has quelled the growing concern of the Korean public, especially with rumors circulating of imports of highly contaminated seafood from Japan.

In exchange for Fukushima, the DP approved the opening of an investigation into the election oversight agency.

The agency has been bedeviled by numerous controversies, with the children of eight high-ranking NEC officials already accused of receiving preferential treatment when they were hired by the organization.

The NEC now faces additional corruption allegations regarding the reckless use of public funding and incompetence.

In particular, critics have called into question the political neutrality of the election oversight agency, with PPP leader Kim Ki-hyeon accusing the NEC of colluding with the DP by interpreting election laws in a manner favorable to the DP.

“We have agreed on a parliamentary investigation that will look into hiring corruption at the NEC and a possible cover-up of North Korea’s hacking,” said PPP Rep. Lee Yang-soo.

“Our goal is to get approval of the investigation plan during a plenary session by June 21.”

BY LEE HO-JEONG [lee.hojeong@joongang.co.kr]