DP to begin global letter campaign to stop Fukushima water release

Democratic Party (DP) chief Lee Jae-myung said Sunday he will send personal letters to leaders of 88 countries that are parties to an international convention on maritime pollution to raise concerns over Japan's Fukushima water release.

Lee Jae-myung, chairman of the Democratic Party, center, and other lawmakers show the covers of letters to be sent to President Yoon Suk Yeol and leaders of other countries that are parties to an international convention on maritime pollution to raise concerns over Japan's Fukushima water release in a press conference in front of the National Assembly in Yeouido, western Seoul, Sunday. [NEWS1]

Democratic Party (DP) chief Lee Jae-myung said Sunday he will send personal letters to leaders of 88 countries that are parties to an international convention on maritime pollution to raise concerns over Japan's Fukushima water release.

"The international community must step forward and correct Japan's clear violation of international law," Lee said in a press conference in front of the National Assembly in western Seoul amid his ongoing hunger strike, referring to Japan's release of treated radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant into the ocean.

He said that the discharge runs counter to the Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter of 1972, or the London Convention, under the International Maritime Organization (IMO), which prohibits dumping of certain hazardous materials in the ocean. The convention defines "dumping" as the deliberate disposal at sea of waste or other matter from vessels, aircraft, platforms or other "man-made structures."

In 1996, the London Protocol was agreed on in order to modernize the convention and prohibits most dumping, including that of low-level radioactive wastes.

The DP will send letters to heads of government of the parties to the London Convention, to which Korea is also party, and ask for their "cooperation" to stop Japan's Fukushima water release to preserve marine safety and ecosystems, said Lee.

The London Convention and Protocol framework under the IMO is scheduled to hold a general assembly next month, with attention focusing on whether the Fukushima water discharge issue will be discussed.

The letters, to be sent out by mail and email on Monday, will reportedly urge the international community to join forces to halt Japan's discharge of contaminated water.

Japan claims that the discharge of treated radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant is not subject to the London Convention.

Lee also criticized the opposing People Power Party (PPP) for mulling changing the term used to refer to the water being released from Japan's crippled Fukushima plant from the currently used "contaminated" water to "treated" water.

On Thursday, Lee began an indefinite hunger strike to protest the Yoon Suk Yeol administration as he marked the first year since taking office.

The DP said it plans to send lawmaker delegations to international organizations, including the UN Human Rights Committee and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), to hold an international forum with foreign expert panels to voice concerns over the water release issue.

BY SARAH KIM [kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr]