President Yoon Suk Yeol's requests regarding Tokyo's plan to discharge contaminated water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant were discussed during working-level consultations between South Korea and Japan earlier this week, an official said Wednesday.
On Tuesday, the director-general-level talks were held in Japan, with the South Korean side led by Yun Hyun-soo, head of the foreign ministry's bureau for climate change, energy, environment and scientific affairs, and the Japanese side headed by Atsushi Kaifu, director-general of the Japanese foreign ministry's disarmament, nonproliferation and science department.
Park Ku-yeon, the first deputy chief of the Office for Government Policy Coordination, said that the six-hour meeting addressed Yoon's requests, such as including South Korean experts in monitoring the planned release of the water.
A bilateral summit was held between Yoon and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on the sidelines of a North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, on July 12.
At the time, Yoon also requested that the discharge be stopped immediately if the concentration of radioactive material in the water exceeds standard levels and that Japan promptly inform South Korea.
"Our side has suggested numerous measures with detailed and professional explanations," Park said during a daily briefing on the Fukushima issue, adding that the Japanese side has taken full note of the suggestions.
Park said that the next round of consultations will be held during the first week of August.
Source: Yonhap News Agency