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Lee Jeong-mi, leader of the Justice Party, takes part in a sit-in outside the Japanese Embassy in Seoul on June 26 after announcing she was going on hunger strike. (Kim Jung-hyo/The Hankyoreh)

Lee Jeong-mi, the leader of the minor progressive Justice Party, declared she was going on hunger strike outside the Japanese Embassy in Seoul as she urges the Japanese government to scrap its plan to dump irradiated water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant into the ocean.

Lee was joined by party floor leader Bae Jin-gyo, lawmaker Kang Eun-mi, and other party executives outside the embassy on Monday morning, where she spoke at a press conference.

“The Justice Party will stand on the front line and fight alongside the Korean people until our demands are heard,” she said.

Lee Jeong-mi, leader of the Justice Party, speaks at a press conference announcing her hunger strike in in protest of Japan’s plan to dump irradiated wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear power plant into the ocean outside the Japanese Embassy in Seoul on June 26. (Kim Jung-hyo/The Hankyoreh)

“I can no longer sit and watch as our government dances to the tune of the Japanese government’s lies,” she said at the event. “Like a parrot of Japan, our government’s lies are the real tall tales.”

In going on hunger strike, Lee said, she would gather public opposition to the dumping of the irradiated Fukushima water and “deliver the common sense, reasonable calls of the Korean people.”

Lee Jeong-mi, leader of the Justice Party, speaks at a press conference announcing her hunger strike in in protest of Japan’s plan to dump irradiated wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear power plant into the ocean outside the Japanese Embassy in Seoul on June 26. (Kim Jung-hyo/The Hankyoreh)

Following the press conference, Lee sat on the ground outside the Japanese Embassy and began her hunger strike, which she plans to continue indefinitely. The Justice Party has reportedly set up a sit-in camp at the location, and other party members and lawmakers have joined in and begun fasting as well.

Lee Jeong-mi (center), leader of the Justice Party, chants with party executives outside the Japanese Embassy in Seoul on June 26. (Kim Jung-hyo/The Hankyoreh)

By Kim Jung-hyo, senior staff writer

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