South Korea Plans to Lift Embargo on Japanese Seafood

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RIA Novosti, PUBLISHED 28.09.2014

South Korea is considering lifting its ban on seafood imports from Japan, a ruling party official said Monday. This move would help to improve relations between two neighboring Asian countries.

"I understand that the government is considering lifting the ban on Japanese fishery products," a key official of the ruling Saenuri Party told Yonhap News Agency in an interview.

South Korea’s ban on Japanese seafood imports was announced on September 6, 2013, in fear of the massive leak of radioactive materials and contaminated water at the tsunami-hit Fukushima nuclear plant. The embargo covers all seafood from the eight prefectures of eastern Japan, including Miyagi and Fukushima. It took effect on September 9, 2013.

Relations between South Korea and Japan have deteriorated in recent years, Stemming from unresolved historical problems, including the issue of Korean women forced to be sex slaves for Japanese soldiers during World War II.

Lifting the embargo could discover a path to the first one-on-one summit between South Korean President Park Geun-hye and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

"Judging from recent developments in Seoul-Tokyo relations, it appears that the trend is going toward a summit meeting," the ruling party official supposed. "I expect there to be a summit within the year or early next year."

Park has so far avoided a meeting with Abe, insisting that he must take steps to resolve issues concerning Japan’s 1910-45 colonization of the Korean Peninsula.

Topics: NPP Fukushima Daiichi, Asia, South Korea, Japan

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