SEOUL, May 1 (NNN-YONHAP) – South Korean fishermen and civic activists, conducted maritime rallies and litigation against Japan’s decision to dump contaminated wastewater from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean.
About 100 fishermen in Korea’s south-eastern port city of Busan staged a rally yesterday, saying, the release of the radioactive water into the sea is a “grave criminal act,” endangering South Korea’s fishing industry and threatens the lives and health of people in neighbouring countries.
The protesters said, Japan’s decision itself, already weakened the domestic consumption of marine products, vowing to continue their protest rally until Japan retracts its decision, announced earlier this month, to discharge the tritium-laced water of over 1.25 million tonnes stored in tanks near the Fukushima nuclear plant, into the ocean in two years.
A line of 30 fishing boats sailed in the waters off Busan, to stage a maritime demonstration, sounding horn and carrying banners condemning Japan, according to local media.
A flurry of similar rallies, both at sea and on land, were carried out across the country, with about 500 fishing vessels mobilised and 1,000 fishermen in attendance, according to the Federation of Fisheries Cooperatives.
A week earlier, the Busan-based Korean Federation for Environmental Movement, filed a suit against Tokyo Electric Power Co., the Fukushima plant operator, to stop the disposal of the radioactive water, which the group expected to reach the South Korean sea in a month.
The civic group said, Busan, close to Japan, will be a city to be hit hardest by the contaminated water that will destroy the marine ecosystem and endanger the lives and assets of people in the port city.
It urged the South Korean government to take the case to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), in cooperation with the international community.
South Korean President, Moon Jae-in, instructed his secretaries to refer Japan to the dispute settlement body under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), together with the request of provisional measures through the ITLOS.
“It is reasonable to see the case as the one, which several states take issue with, as members of the international community, to preserve the maritime environment, global commons for all man kind,” Choi Jee-hyun, a law professor at Jeju National University in the resort island of Jeju said.
Choi said, South Korean civic groups may consider lodging a suit against the Japanese government with a Japanese court, in cooperation with the Japanese civil society.
As Japan’s people and fishermen are one of the biggest victims to the disposal of the irradiated water into the sea, South Korean and Japanese advocacy groups can jointly demand the Japanese government’s sincere and responsible response, the professor noted.
Japan’s decision also sparked harsh criticism from distant Central American countries and neighbour states, such as South Korea and China.
South Korea’s first vice foreign minister, held a meeting with his counterparts from eight Central American countries in Costa Rica on Apr 22, adopting a joint statement to express “deep concern” about the discharge of contaminated materials into the sea.
The ministry said, South Korea and the Central American Integration System, SICA, adopted joint statement based on a shared understanding over the dangers of the recent decision by Japan, to discharge contaminated water from the Fukushima power plant into the sea.
The joint statement said, both sides expressed deep concern over a massive release of contaminated materials into the sea, a serious situation that negatively affects the human body and the marine ecosystem.
The statement emphasised the need for the international community to jointly tackle the acts that cause danger to the marine ecosystem and people’s safety, pledging to strengthen cooperation in preserving the marine environment across the globe, including the Pacific Ocean.– NNN-YONHAP
