Rafael Grossi's Visit to South Korea and Discussions on Fukushima's Radioactive Water Discharge

The Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, is set to meet with South Korea's Foreign Minister and a senior nuclear security official on Saturday, July 8, to alleviate concerns regarding Japan's plan to discharge radioactive water from the tsunami-hit Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean. According to Reuters, Grossi arrived in South Korea on Friday after concluding his visit to Japan, where he approved the plan to release wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear facility into the ocean. In an interview with the Yonhap news agency, Grossi stated that no experts disagreed with the content of the IAEA's report on Fukushima. He also expressed his willingness to meet with the opposition party in South Korea, which opposes this plan. On Friday, July 7, the South Korean government announced that it respects the IAEA's report, and its analysis indicates that the release of this water will have 'no meaningful impact' on the country's waters. The government of Yoon Suk-yeol, the President of South Korea, has adopted a suitable approach toward Japan's plan in an effort to improve relations with Tokyo. Despite South Korea's agreement with this plan, the ban on food and seafood products from the Fukushima area remains in place. Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the opposition Democratic Party, has also stated that the government should work to halt this plan and bring the case to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. Since the tsunami in 2011, which severely damaged the plant, over one million tons of treated wastewater have been stored there. Japan aims to begin discharging this water into the Pacific Ocean. However, the country has not yet announced a date for the release of the treated radioactive water from the Fukushima plant and is awaiting final approval from the national nuclear regulatory authority. Previously, the operator of the plant, Tokyo Electric Power Company, and the Japanese government announced that they are preparing to release over 1.3 million tons of treated radioactive water into the sea, which is expected to begin in the coming months. The Japanese government claims that discharging the treated water, which has reached safe levels, is safe over several decades, but many residents, fishermen's unions, as well as neighboring countries like China and South Korea, and Pacific island nations oppose it. The IAEA has given Japan the green light to release radioactive water, raising concerns about the safety conditions of the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan. Japan observed a 'minute of silence' on the twelfth anniversary of the deadly earthquake and tsunami.