The government announced on the 28th that it would further strengthen radioactivity testing for Japanese seafood in consideration of public concerns over Japan’s plan to expand scallop exports to Korea and the EU.
Song Myung-dal, Vice Minister of Oceans and Fisheries, said this during a briefing on the discharge of Fukushima contaminated water at the Seoul Government Complex this morning.
The government plans to expand the national application radioactivity testing system, which is currently operated for domestically produced marine products, to imported marine products starting next year.
However, Kang Baek-won, Director of Imported Food Safety Policy at the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, said, “Even if Japan’s quantity is set for each country, importers select the quantity in advance based on the supply and demand situation of scallops in their country.” He added, “Domestic demand for scallops remains at a certain level. “It only fluctuates slightly, but we have not found any basis to believe that it is directly reflected in domestic demand,” he explained.
This is interpreted to mean that even if the other party sets the quantity in advance, it will not have a significant impact considering the domestic demand for scallops, which remains almost constant.
In addition, as the budget for next year was finalized, it was decided to allocate 738 billion won, an increase of about 210 billion won compared to this year, to investigate radiation and strengthen safety management of marine products. Among these, the budget of the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries is 731.9 billion won.
First, we plan to expand the domestic marine radioactivity survey currently being conducted at 200 locations to 243 locations starting next year, and expand the high seas radioactivity survey conducted at 8 locations this year to a total of 18 locations, including 10 locations near the Pacific Islands.
Radioactivity tests on seafood will also increase from about 21,400 this year to 25,000 next year, and private monitoring, which was about 9,000 cases this year, will also more than double next year.
In the case of support for revitalizing seafood consumption, a budget of 133.8 billion won, which is more than double this year’s budget, is planned to be allocated, and the scale of Onnuri gift certificate refund events and online and offline discount events will be further expanded.
In addition, the scale of purchasing and stockpiling marine products will be expanded to 321.9 billion won, and the supply of fisheries policy funds will be increased from 3.4 trillion won this year to 4.1 trillion won next year.
The loan limit for each fisherman and corporation was also raised by 500 million won, and the emergency management stabilization fund to support fishermen facing temporary business difficulties was allocated to 100 billion won, a five-fold increase compared to this year. The government will also provide support for the increase in electricity bills for fish farmers (KRW 5.6 billion) and subsidies linked to duty-free oil prices for fishermen (KRW 4.5 billion).
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.