SEOUL, South Korea (AP) \u2014 Seoul office worker Kim Mijeong said she intends to stop eating seafood because she deeply mistrusts the safety of Japan\u2019s release of treated\u00a0radioactive wastewater<\/a><\/span>\u00a0into the sea from its crippled nuclear power plant.\u201cWe should absolutely cut back on our consumption of seafood. Actually, we can\u2019t eat it,\u201d Kim said. \u201cI can\u2019t accept the Japanese plan because it\u2019s too unilateral and is proceeding without countermeasures.\u201d<\/p>Many foreign experts said\u00a0<\/span>the water discharge<\/a><\/span>\u00a0will have a negligible impact on the environment and human health. The International Atomic Energy Agency also said it has experts on the ground to ensure the release goes as planned. But with the discharge starting Thursday, public fears and frustration were being shared in its Asian neighbors, where many still bear strong resentment over Japan\u2019s World War II aggression.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n In response to the release, China banned seafood from Japan. Ministry of Commerce spokesperson Shu Jueting called the discharge \u201cextremely selfish and irresponsible\u201d and said it would \u201ccause damage and harm to the global marine environment that cannot be predicted.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hong Kong and Macau said they were banning seafood from Fukushima and nine other Japanese prefectures. North Korea\u2019s Foreign Ministry called the release a \u201ccrime against humanity\u201d and said Japan would be wholly responsible its \u201ccatastrophic consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n South Korean police detained 16 student activists Thursday for allegedly trying to enter the Japanese Embassy illegally to protest the release. The activists entered the building housing the embassy, shouted slogans and unfolded banners but failed to enter embassy offices, according to police.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In South Korea, fierce\u00a0domestic political wrangling\u00a0has erupted over its own government\u2019s endorsement of the Japanese plan. Liberal critics accused the conservative government led by President Yoon Suk Yeol of pushing to improve ties with Japan at the sacrifice of public health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe Yoon Suk Yeol government and the ruling People Power Party are accomplices in the dumping of the wastewater,\u201d said Kwon Chil-seung, a spokesperson for the main opposition Democratic Party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hong Kong and Macau said they were banning seafood from Fukushima and nine other Japanese prefectures. North Korea\u2019s Foreign Ministry called the release a \u201ccrime against humanity\u201d and said Japan would be wholly responsible its \u201ccatastrophic consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n South Korean police detained 16 student activists Thursday for allegedly trying to enter the Japanese Embassy illegally to protest the release. The activists entered the building housing the embassy, shouted slogans and unfolded banners but failed to enter embassy offices, according to police.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In South Korea, fierce\u00a0domestic political wrangling\u00a0has erupted over its own government\u2019s endorsement of the Japanese plan. Liberal critics accused the conservative government led by President Yoon Suk Yeol of pushing to improve ties with Japan at the sacrifice of public health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe Yoon Suk Yeol government and the ruling People Power Party are accomplices in the dumping of the wastewater,\u201d said Kwon Chil-seung, a spokesperson for the main opposition Democratic Party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fears about the wastewater are taking a heavy toll on some businesses in South Korea\u2019s seafood industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a seafood market in the southeastern port city of Busan, fishmonger Kim Hae-cheol said his revenues have halved since a few months ago and worried that his business would suffer more after the start of the discharge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI haven\u2019t had any customers today. In past years, I sold fish worth 400,000-500,000 won ($300-$380) by this time on a normal day,\u201d Kim said in a midday phone interview Wednesday. \u201cOthers in this market have had few customers today as well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kim said he trusts the safety reviews by the IAEA, Japanese and South Korean officials, but that his business has been battered mainly because some opposition politicians and media outlets \u201cmake much ado.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Japan also faced strong protests from local fishing organizations, which worry their catches will be shunned. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has promised his government\u2019s\u00a0full support for fishing communities\u00a0during the decades the wastewater will be released. The National Federation of Fisheries Cooperatives opposes the release, but its leaders say some members have gained confidence in the plan\u2019s safety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hong Seong-been, a Seoul resident, said political strife over the release has left many with a lack of genuine information about whether the water is truly safe or not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Hong Kong, about a dozen residents took part in a march in a central business district to protest against Japan\u2019s move.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After the protesters reached the building housing the Japanese Consulate, they tore up a big banner bearing Japan\u2019s flag and the words \u201cNo trace of humanity. An enemy of the whole world.\u201d Some held up placards calling for Kishida to step down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The discharge plans have dealt a blow to Japanese restaurants which were already reeling from other problems, said Martin Chan, a director of the Hong Kong Federation of Restaurants and Related Trades. If Hong Kong follows China\u2019s lead and bans all seafood from Japan, he will have to suspend operations at his Japanese restaurant, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During lunch hour, some residents rushed to Japanese restaurants and supermarkets to have what they called their last \u201csafe\u201d sushi meals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Housewife Vivian Li said she would stop eating aquatic products from Japan after finishing her sushi lunch. Li said she likes eating Japanese food but she had to make the decision due to health concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI want to act as a role model for my children, so they will stop eating these products even when they grow up,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But young professional Janet Yip said she would not cut her consumption of Japanese food because the release plans meet international standards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Taiwan, reactions to the release plan were muted. On a governmental level, Taipei is aligned with Tokyo on a score of issues and hasn\u2019t vocally opposed the discharge plan, which has been portrayed by Taiwanese media as conforming to international norms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Taiwan\u2019s Atomic Energy Council, a government agency, expressed concern in the past over the discharge. On Tuesday, it said it would closely monitor radiation levels in waters around Taiwan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Philippines, which receives coast guard vessels and other aid from Japan, also stressed that it was looking at the issue from a scientific perspective and recognized the IAEA\u2019s expertise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAs a coastal and archipelagic state, the Philippines attaches utmost priority to the protection and preservation of the marine environment,\u201d the Department of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" SEOUL, South Korea (AP) \u2014 Seoul office worker Kim Mijeo […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2738,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2737","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2737"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2737\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2739,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2737\/revisions\/2739"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2738"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}