[theold]

"Korea has accepted Japan's decision on the water release saying that it meets global safety standards, but is not buying its seafood citing concerns about radioactive contamination. This sounds contradictory," said Yang. "The government should come up with better reasons and scientific data to maintain the import curb."

But the European Union lifted its ban on agriculture and fish products from Fukushima in July, which had been in place for 12 years following the nuclear plant meltdown in 2011.

"Also, now that Japan has won the support of the U.S., it is likely to begin making official requests to Korea to resume fisheries imports," he said.

Yang was referring to U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rham Emanuel's visit to Fukushima Prefecture on Thursday where he said the U.S. will "stand by Japan if it decides to take China's import ban to the WTO."

In response to an opposition lawmaker's question whether the government would be able to stick to its current policy despite Japan's strong protest, Han replied, "We have our own internal strategies, but these cannot be disclosed to the public."

He also said that Japan has not requested the Korean government to resume seafood imports, and denied that the agenda was brought up during a recent summit between the leaders of Korea, the U.S. and Japan.

https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/...58319.html

[CHAOS]