South Korea extends Japan fisheries ban as Fukushima concerns grow

(Organic Slant) South Korea extended a ban on Japanese fishery imports to a larger area around the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant due to growing concerns over radiation contamination.

The plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), said it is “very concerned” that radioactive water could flow towards a bypass it is digging to divert clean groundwater around the damaged reactors and into the sea, further fueling concerns.

A spokesman for the South Korean Prime Minister’s office said the measures were due to “the sharply increased concern in the public about the flow of hundreds of tons of contaminated water into the ocean” at Fukushima. The ban takes effect on Monday and will cover imports from eight Japanese prefectures, including Fukushima. It will be in place for an indefinite amount of time, adding international pressure to solve the problems at the Fukushima plant.

Since the disaster, China has banned dairy, vegetable and seafood product imports from at least five Japanese prefectures, including Fukushima.

Japan’s top government spokesman, Yoshihide Suga, insists that the country’s fish exports are safe for consumption, claiming that the contamination is isolated to one area where radiation readings are within permissible levels.

“We have been providing relevant information to the South Korean government,” Suga told reporters. “We would like South Korea to take steps based on scientific evidence.”

Its difficult for any sensible person, including South Korea’s government officials, to fully take such statements seriously, considering the fact that TEPCO and the Japanese government have routinely denied or downplayed aspects of the crisis and the effects of radiation ever since the plant was struck by an earthquake and tsunami in March 2011.