hankyoreh

Japan plans to release into the ocean the 1.33 million metric tons of radioactive water stored in tanks, shown here, at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant over the course of 30 years. (Yonhap)

When the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) invited Japan-based foreign media to report on the scene of the upcoming ocean discharge of water contaminated with radiation from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, the only Korean media outlets it didn’t invite were the Hankyoreh and MBC. This deliberate snub of the two media companies that have covered the issue most critically in Korea raises serious questions about whether the Japanese government and TEPCO will keep their promise to disclose information transparently while moving ahead with releasing the contaminated water.

On July 7, TEPCO sent an email via the Foreign Press Center Japan, which helps foreign correspondents do reporting in Japan, about a tour it was organizing from 10 am to 5 pm on July 21 of the facilities that will be used to discharge the contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear plant and asked interested journalists to submit applications for the tour.

Reporters on the tour would be taken around the Advanced Liquid Processing System (ALPS), the equipment being used to remove radionuclides from the water, and the undersea tunnel through which the treated water will flow into the ocean. A number of Korean journalists in Japan, including the Hankyoreh’s reporter, submitted applications for the tour.

When the press center notified media organizations of the results of TEPCO’s selection process on July 12, five days later, the Hankyoreh was the only one of six Korean newspapers and wire services whose application was rejected. Furthermore, MBC was the only one of Korea’s three terrestrial broadcasters not to be selected.

This is the third tour of the Fukushima nuclear accident site to be organized for the foreign press since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic. Several Korean media organizations applied to attend earlier on-site tours (held in November 2022 and February 2023), but only one organization was selected for each tour. Those two Korean media organizations will also have a chance to attend the third tour.

When the Hankyoreh objected that there were serious issues with the selection criteria in connection with fairness in reporting, a spokesperson for the press center explained that “the selection of media organizations was made by TEPCO, as the event organizer.” The Hankyoreh inquired about TEPCO’s selection standards but had not received a response as of the time of writing, on Thursday afternoon. TEPCO reportedly does not intend to disclose its selection criteria to individual media organizations.

“As prime minister of Japan, I will take every measure to ensure that the ocean discharge is safe and doesn’t negatively impact the environment or the health of [. . .] Korean citizens,” Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said in a meeting with South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol on July 12.

Despite that promise, Japan is essentially keeping critical media from accessing the site, which would be a fundamental part of releasing the information that Koreans need to verify the safety of the ocean discharge.

A spokesperson for the Korean Embassy to Japan said the embassy was in contact with TEPCO and the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs to figure out what had happened.

By Kim So-youn, Tokyo correspondent

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