Radiation level of seafood, beach within safe range: gov't

▲ Vice Oceans Minister Park Sung-hoon (R) talks during a daily briefing on the Fukushima issue on July 25, 2023. (Yonhap)

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Radiation level of seafood, beach within safe range: gov't

By Kim Han-joo

SEOUL, July 25 (Yonhap) -- The radiation level of all seafood imported from Japan this year is within the safe range, the government said Tuesday, amid persistent safety concerns over Tokyo's plan to discharge contaminated water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant.

As part of their routine radioactivity checks, the government has conducted measurements on 5,447 cases of seafood at the production level, and all of them had no traces of radiation, including 3,160 cases of Japanese imports, according to Vice Oceans Minister Park Sung-hoon.

"(Radiation) tests on 116 out of 127 cases of selected seafood were all within the safe range," Park told a daily briefing on the Fukushma issue. He referred to a random radiation test that was conducted for the first time this year for seafood products at the request of the public.

Emergency radiation tests were conducted on the water at 10 out of 20 major beaches ahead of the summer vacation season, and all results showed safe radiation levels.

The weekly inspection, which kicked off last week, will cover 20 beaches in the country, including Hamdeok Beach on Jeju Island and Gyeongpo Beach in the east coast city of Gangneung.

South Korea and Japan were set to hold working-level consultations Tuesday to discuss Seoul's request regarding Tokyo's discharge plan, as part of follow-up measures to the results of a bilateral summit held on the sidelines of a North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, earlier this month.

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