On Saturday, protestors gathered in South Korea's capital demanding government action to avert what they fear is an imminent disaster from the treated radioactive water at a damaged Japanese nuclear plant. According to Korea Broadcasting System (KBS), citing the organizers, about 30,000 people participated in the protest.
Last Thursday, despite opposition from both domestic and international fishing industries and others concerned about environmental impacts, Japan persisted in discharging nuclear wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear plant, located north of Tokyo, into the ocean.
Choi Kyoungsook of the Korea Radiation Watch, the organization that arranged the rally, stated, "The disaster of detecting radioactive substances in seafood may not be immediate, but such discharges inevitably pose a risk to the local fishing industry. The government needs to come up with solutions to address the impact of Japan's nuclear wastewater on South Korea's fisheries and the health of its people."
Tokyo Electric Power, the company in charge of the nuclear plant, claims it has been filtering to remove isotopes. The Japanese Fisheries Agency also notes that in fish testing conducted near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, no detectable levels of tritium have been found.
Although the South Korean government has repeatedly stated that there are no scientific issues with Japan's discharged wastewater. Environmentalists claim that the effects of nuclear wastewater are difficult to detect in the short term, but no one can predict the long-term impacts on the marine ecosystem, as well as on South Korea's fisheries and public health.
