Japan asks South Korea to lift ban on Japanese seafood imports
Shinjiro Koizumi, Japan's minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, held talks with South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun in Seoul ahead of a possible visit to Japan by South Korean President Lee Jae Myung later this month.
It is unusual for a Japanese farm minister to meet with another country's foreign minister. The talks took place after Koizumi attended a trilateral agriculture ministers' meeting in Incheon with his Chinese and South Korean counterparts earlier in the day.
"I have high expectations that relevant ministries will foster smooth communication toward the swift removal of the ban," Koizumi told reporters after the meeting. He declined to say how Cho responded.
South Korea banned imports of Japanese seafood from Aomori, Iwate, Miyagi, Fukushima, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma and Chiba prefectures after the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, which was devastated by a massive earthquake and tsunami in March 2011.
Seoul also requires eight other Japanese prefectures to provide certificates of radiation inspection.
"Trust in Japanese foods has been fully restored," Koizumi said.
The Japanese and South Korean governments are arranging a visit by the South Korean president for talks with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, according to diplomatic sources.
In June, China lifted its ban on Japanese seafood imports imposed in August 2023 when Japan began releasing treated radioactive wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear power plant into the sea, although some restrictions remain.
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