South Korea Considers Actions Against Japan Over Plan to Release Radioactive Water from Fukushima Plant

South Korean President Moon Jae-in has ordered his Cabinet to consider filing a complaint with an international court against Japan’s decision to release radioactive water from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean.

Presidential spokesman Kang Min-seok told reporters Wednesday in Seoul that President Moon wants officials to examine whether to bring the matter to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga announced Tuesday that his government had approved a plan to empty 1.3 million tons of contaminated water from Fukushima into the ocean beginning next year, when the plant’s storage tanks will be full.  Suga said the plan to release the water in the sea is an “unavoidable” part of decommissioning the Fukushima facility. Moon also personally expressed his concerns about the plan Wednesday to Koichi Aiboshi, Japan’s envoy to South Korea, when Aiboshi formally presented his credentials.  He told the ambassador the two countries are geographically close to each other and share the same sea.