South Korea's imports of more Japanese seafood rose 13 percent in the first half from a year earlier

South Korea has increased imports of Japanese aquatic products after Tokyo Electric Power Co. 's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant started discharging water from the sea. Data show that in the first half of this year, South Korea imported about 18,000 tons of Japanese seafood, up 13 percent year-on-year.

Kyodo News agency reported that when Tepco opened the drainage operation, the South Korean people generally expressed concern about this, but the South Korean government actively carried out radiation testing on the relevant waters after the drainage operation, showing that the discharge data were up to standard. Still, some experts are concerned about the long-term impact of the disposal of nuclear water into the sea.

South Korea's reasons for increasing imports include the fact that Japanese seafood has become cheaper due to the depreciation of the yen. Statistics released by the South Korean government show that imports for the whole year last year were 15% lower than in 2022, but basically unchanged from 2021. At present, the Korean government still bans the import of aquatic products from eight prefectures such as Fukushima, Iwate and Miyagi, and mainly accepts aquatic products from Hokkaido, Ehime and Nagasaki.

In order to reduce public anxiety over the hoarding of natural salt and the refusal to buy fish products last summer, the Korean government has conducted several tests for about 50,000 radioactive substances in offshore areas over the past year.

Senior officials of the Korean government also stressed at a press conference on the 21st of this month that "no cases of excessive nuclear radiation have been found."

However, South Korea's largest opposition party, the Minjoo Party, said in a statement Friday that "nuclear contaminated water will flow into South Korean waters in five to 10 years." South Korean media "YTN" reported that "the South Korean government can not relax the security management."