[KBS Busan] Korea-Japan 1,600km long journey… Appeal for “Stop the release of radioactively contaminated water”

2023. 7. 15.

[News Anchor]

As the Japanese government announced the start of releasing radioactive contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant as “this summer,” there are many concerns about neighboring countries such as Korea.

In the meantime, a Korean-Japanese citizen walking march led by nuclear phase-out activists arrived in Busan today and appealed to stop the release radioactive contaminated water.

Reporter Noh Jun-cheol reports.

[Reporter]

On the 18th of last month, a walking march of citizens of Korea and Japan departed Gwanghwamun Square in Seoul, urging “Stop the release of radioactively contaminated water.”

They walked 500 kilometers through Daejeon and Daegu and arrived in Busan in 27 days.

They are calling for an stop to the release of radioactively contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan, as if they had shut down Kori Nuclear Power Plant Unit 1 at the end of a national peace march 10 years ago.

[Lee Won-young / Head of the Korean-Japanese Citizens’ Walking March / Former Professor of Suwon University: “Now the owners of the global village have to step in. Citizens of Korea and Japan are walking to remind them of this and to prevent the discharge. If we walk together, we can achieve this.”]

Busan environmental civic groups also joined the Citizens’ Walking March from Busan Port at the end of the Korean Peninsula to Japan by boat.

[Kim Hae-chang/Professor of Environmental Engineering at Kyungsung University:
“Why does Japan want to dump (contaminated water) into the sea, the birthplace of mankind around the world across borders? This IAEA final report is, in effect, a stilted report.”]

The walking march will arrive at Shimonoseki Port in Japan and make another 1,100-kilometer long march to Hiroshima, Osaka, Nagoya and Tokyo.

They plan to finish the long journey by delivering a letter from Korean and Japanese citizens to the Japanese government and the National Assembly on September 11th, which contains the meaning of ‘stopping the release of contaminated water’.

The release of radioactively contaminated water at sea is planned from this year to 2050.

Citizens’ groups in Busan, such as the Climate Crisis Emergency Action, also staged a gestural protest at Haeundae Beach today against the Japanese government and Tokyo Electric Power’s “discharge of contaminated water into the ocean.”

This is Noh Jun-cheol from KBS News.

Original Article>> https://news.kbs.co.kr/news/view.do?ncd=7724779

Categories: Korean-Japanese citizen walking march