South Korea's opposition criticizes IAEA over Japanese plan to release treated Fukushima wastewater

By Anadolu staff

ANKARA (AA) - South Korean opposition lawmakers on Sunday criticized the head of the UN nuclear watchdog on Sunday for its approval of Japan’s plans to release treated wastewater from the disaster-hit Fukushima nuclear power plant.

International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi, who landed in Seoul on Friday, met with South Korean government officials and opposition members to discuss Japan's planned release of treated radioactive water from its crippled plant.

Lawmakers from the main opposition Democratic Party sharply criticized Grossi for the IAEA's approval of Japanese plans during a meeting on Sunday, according to the Seoul-based Yonhap news agency.

Grossi said he understands concerns remain over the plan but added that a review by the IAEA released last week found it was “in conformity with international safety standards” if executed according to plan.

Wi Seong-gon, a DP lawmaker who has been heading a special committee on the issue, called on Japan to reconsider the plan.

"Japan should postpone its contaminated water release plan and consider other alternatives with the international community. The IAEA should join these calls," Wi said.

On Saturday, the IAEA head met with South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin, and the head of South Korea's Nuclear Safety and Security Commission, Yoo Guk-hee, to explain the agency's conclusion over Tokyo's plan.

Jin told reporters that he had an "in-depth discussion" with Grossi about cooperation between Seoul and the IAEA over the verification of the safety of Japan's treated radioactive water.

"What starts now is even more important than the work done so far -- the continuous monitoring of the (Fukushima) plan's implementation," Grossi said on Twitter, adding the IAEA will remain at the Fukushima plant.

In Seoul, Grossi said there was no internal disagreement behind the IAEA's published comprehensive report on Japan's plan to discharge contaminated water from the Fukushima plant.

- ‘Oppose marine dumping’

Upon Grossi’s arrival in South Korea on Friday, a group of protesters gathered in front of the VIP exit at Seoul's Gimpo airport, with some of them loudly chanting slogans like "Grossi, go home," "Oppose marine dumping" and "Leave Korea, Grossi."

They also clashed physically with the policemen who were positioned in front of the cordoned-off area.

Grossi, however, managed to leave the airport, using another passage after about two hours.

He flew in from Japan following the agency's conclusion that Tokyo's plan to release treated radioactive water from the plant into the sea is consistent with international safety standards.

While in Japan, Grossi delivered the IAEA's report on Tokyo's water release plan to Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

North Korea, for its part, has criticized the IAEA’s report.

The envisioned water release will have a "fatal adverse impact on the human lives and security and ecological environment," a senior official of the country's Land and Environment Protection Ministry was quoted as saying in a statement by the official Korean Central News Agency.

"What matters is the unreasonable behavior of (the) IAEA actively patronizing and facilitating Japan's projected discharge of nuclear-polluted water, which is unimaginable," the statement said, reiterating its opposition to the discharge plan.