After all, just a simple check? The government’s position increasingly away from ‘objective verification’

Regarding the role of the Fukushima inspection team, President Yoon Seok-yeol first said that he expected an objective verification based on science. However, little by little, the government’s explanation put more weight on inspection than verification, and eventually an announcement like today (19th) came out.

This is reporter Chae Seung-gi.

[Reporter]

When President Yoon Seok-yeol announced on the 7th that the heads of Korea and Japan had agreed to send an inspection team to Fukushima, he mentioned objective verification based on science.

[(Last 7th): I hope that meaningful measures will be taken in consideration of the people’s demand for objective verification based on science.]안전놀이터

After the announcement, evaluations were mixed as to whether dispatching an inspection team would be effective in verifying contaminated water.

When the term ‘inspection group’ instead of ‘verification group’ became controversial, the government seemed to take a step back to conduct activities close to verification.

[Jo Jeong-sik/Democratic Party Member (Last 9th / National Assembly Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee): Why is it an inspection team and not an inspection team?]

[Jang Ho-jin/Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs 1: It seems to be a matter of terminology. We will do activities close to actual verification.]

However, the Japanese government’s position was different.

[Nishimura Yasutoshi/Japan Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry (Last 9th) : (The Korean inspection team) will not evaluate or confirm the safety of the treated water.] Amid continuing controversy, working-level negotiations at the director level of Korea and Japan began on the 12th

.

And two days ago, Prime Minister Han Deok-soo drew a line that the inspection team’s biggest role was to check the Japanese discharge facilities and procedures.

[Han Deok-soo/Prime Minister (Last 17th): I think the biggest thing is to judge whether these procedures, facilities, plans, and such results are ‘reasonable’.] The explanation of ‘objective verification’ that came out immediately after the summit

meeting In the distant situation, concerns are growing that the role of the inspection team may stop at the level of understanding the site.