While the Japanese government announced that it would discharge contaminated water from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant sometime this spring or summer, a survey found that there is a big difference in the perceptions of the people of Japan and South Korea regarding the dangers of food produced in Fukushima.
According to the Yomiuri Shimbun on the 14th, Naoya Sekiya, a professor at the University of Tokyo, conducted a survey of 3,000 Internet users in 10 countries and regions, including Korea, China, and Japan, in March last year.
As a result, 93% of Koreans answered ‘dangerous’ to the question, ‘What do you think regarding the safety of food from Fukushima if it is released to the sea?’
87% of China, 82% of Germany, 77% of France, 76% of Taiwan, and 74% of the United States answered “dangerous” to the same question, exceeding 60% in all countries and regions except Japan.
On the other hand, only 36% of Japanese people gave the same answer. Conversely, 64% thought that food from Fukushima was not dangerous.
The Japanese government explains that most of the radioactive materials, including cesium, are removed when the contaminated water is purified through ALPS. However, it is known that tritium (tritium) is not filtered out.
Cesium in excess of the standard set by the local fishery cooperative was detected in sea bass caught on the 7th in Fukushima Prefecture.
First Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Cho Hyun-dong expressed concerns regarding the discharge of contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant to Japan at a meeting between the vice ministers of foreign affairs of Korea and Japan held on the 13th (local time) in Washington, DC.
Reporter Kwon Yoon-hee