Arab News Japan

TOKYO: Lawmakers from Japan and South Korea held a press conference in Tokyo on Wednesday criticizing the Japanese government’s decision to dispose of contaminated water from the destroyed Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the Pacific Ocean.

Lawmakers Seong Gon Wi and Yoon Jaekab of the Democratic Party of South Korea were joined by Japanese politician ABE Tomoko and Park Yeonhwan, a representative of the Korea Federation of Advanced Fisheries.

Seong asked the government of Japan and plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company to abandon their plan to release 1.3 million tonnes of radiation-contaminated water into the ocean, a move, he said, that would “kill the sea for all.”

“The disposing of wastewater from a nuclear power plant into the ocean is an unprecedented event that is bound to have a catastrophic influence on the health and lives of the current and future generations,” said Seong, who added that the move goes against international and UN regulations that prohibit the dumping of waste into the ocean.

Seong said the International Atomic Energy Agency report that Japan is using as justification for the water disposal had several limitations. He said the ALPS purification system was unreliable, and the long-term impact of discharging radioactive waste water on marine ecosystems had not been adequately assessed.

“The dumping of radioactive wastewater is an illegal attempt at nuclear terrorism against the entire human race,” said Yoon, a former admiral in the South Korean Navy.