South Korea bans northeast Japan fish imports over radiation concern
Print Edition
South Korea announced yesterday that it was banning all fish imports from Japan’s northeastern coast because of what officials called growing public worry over radioactive water leaking into the Pacific Ocean near the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant.
Fisheries in Fukushima prefecture are nearly all closed, and fish caught in nearby prefectures are sold on the Japanese market only after tests show them safe for consumption.
However, South Korea’s ban applies to a total of eight prefectures with a combined coastline of more than 700 kilometers, regardless of whether the fish pass safety standards or not.
The South Korean government made the move because of insufficient information from Tokyo about what steps will be taken to address the leakage of contaminated water from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, according to a statement by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries.
Tokyo Electric Power Co, the plant’s operator, acknowledges that tons of radioactive water has been seeping into the Pacific from the plant for more than two years after the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami led to meltdowns at three reactors at the plant.
Recent leaks from tanks storing radioactive water used to cool the reactors have added to fears.
Japan’s chief Cabinet secretary, Yoshihide Suga, said yesterday that fish and seafood that go to market are tested for radiation and shown to be safe. Suga also stressed that the contaminated water flowing into the ocean is limited to a small area off the Fukushima plant.
“There is an international standard on food, including fish, and we are carrying out stringent safety controls based on those standards. We ask South Korea for a response based on science,” he said.
South Korea Vice Fisheries Minister Son Jae-hak said the eight prefectures in 2012 exported to South Korea 5,000 tons of fishery products — about 13 percent of the 40,000 total tons imported last year from Japan.
Hisashi Hiroyama, a Japanese Fisheries Agency official, said Japan exports about 9.2 billion yen (US$92 million) of fish a year to South Korea.
Japan bans the shipment, or sale locally, of food products whose radiation levels exceed 100 becquerels per kilogram.
Earlier this week, the Japanese government announced that it would spend 47 billion yen on an underground “ice wall” around the reactor.
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