The ruling People Power Party (PPP) decided Wednesday to refer to the radioactive water being released from Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant into the ocean as "treated contaminated water."
The decision comes after the chief of the National Federation of Fisheries Cooperatives called for using the term "treated water" during a meeting of the PPP held to discuss ways to boost seafood consumption in the wake of the Fukushima release.
"Now we have to officially call it treated contaminated water," Rep. Yoo Sang-bum told reporters. "As they are discharging it after treatment, we have to refer to it as treated contaminated water. It is also the official term used by the International Atomic Energy Agency."
During the meeting with the PPP, the National Federation of Fisheries Cooperatives chairman, Noh Dong-jin, said the widely used term "contaminated water" is misleading the public and driving fears over the safety of locally produced seafood.
"From this time forth, we will change the term from 'contaminated water' to 'treated water,'" he said.
Noh said the change is intended to avoid misleading the public, since the common use of the term "contaminated water" has triggered an adverse reaction among people despite the water being treated in a scientifically proven manner.
The government has so far stuck to the term "contaminated water" in a daily briefing on the Fukushima water release, saying it is too early to consider a term change and the government needs to "contemplate which term would be more beneficial for the national interest."
Source: Yonhap News Agency