S. Korea’s import of Japanese seafood plummets for 2nd month

South Korea’s import of Japanese seafood plummeted for the second consecutive month on rising worry about Japan’s planned release of radioactive wastewater from its crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean.

The import of Japanese seafood, including live, refrigerated and frozen fish as well as shellfish, dropped 30.6 percent over the year to 2,129 tons in May, after sinking 26.0 percent in April, Yonhap news agency said Monday citing data from the Korea Customs Service.

The recent drop in imports of Japanese fish and shellfish seemed to be relevant to growing concerns about Japanese fishery products ahead of the planned discharge of the Fukushima-contaminated water this summer, Yonhap said.

According to Japanese media, the test operation of the contaminated water discharge facility began a week earlier.

In May 2010, about a year before the massive earthquake and tsunami crippled the Fukushima nuclear power plant, South Korea’s import of Japanese fishery products reached 7,475 tons, more than tripling the import volume in the same month of this year.

South Korea has banned all seafood imports from eight Japanese prefectures near Fukushima following the disaster. (BSS/Xinhua)