Japanese Radioactive Fisheries
Japan is planning to file a complaint against Korea with the World Trade Organization (WTO) for the latter’s import ban on fisheries products produced in Japan. Earlier in mid-September, officials at the Fisheries Agency of Japan visited Korea to protest against the import ban. Much attention is being paid to whether or not the stance will result in a lawsuit in the WTO or trade retaliation.
“Japan made the import ban an official agenda item in the WTO’s Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures,” said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on October 16. The SPS Committee meeting, which opened on October 14 in Geneva, Switzerland, continues until October 18, and Japan is said to be bringing up the issue in the general meeting scheduled for October 16 and 17.
Japan had mentioned the same issue against China and Japan in the SPS Committee meeting in June as well, before targeting Korea at this time. Also, as part of multifaceted diplomatic efforts, it made a request for the International Atomic Energy Agency to send a radioactive contamination research group in November and for Korean experts to take part in it. The Korean government has expressed its agreement via the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission.
In the meantime, the National Assembly Research Service (NARS) published a report on the same day to look into the possibility of WTO litigation regarding the import ban. “Both the United States and the European Union have taken comprehensive measures against food imported from Japan after the Fukushima disaster in March 2011,” it said in the report, adding, “As such, we have a chance of winning the lawsuit even if we implement the import ban on all of the marine products from Japan to result in a suit.”