Hundreds of protesters have rallied in Seoul to protest on Saturday the impending dumping of Fukushima’s wastewater into the ocean. The demonstrators, who included civic activists, fishermen, and opposition lawmakers, called for Japan to abandon its plan to release more than a million tons of treated radioactive water from the tsunami-damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant into the sea.
The protesters accused Japan of violating international law and endangering the marine ecosystem and human health. They also expressed anger and disappointment toward the South Korean government for endorsing the discharge despite alleged food safety risks.
Japan announced its decision to release the water in April 2021, saying that it had no other choice as the storage tanks at the Fukushima plant would reach their capacity by 2024. Japan claimed that the water had been treated with an advanced liquid processing system (ALPS) that removed most of the radioactive elements except for tritium, which it said was harmless in small doses.