A South Korean delegation will visit the disaster-hit Fukushima nuclear power plant next week to assess the safety of Japan's planned release of treated radioactive water into the sea, the government said Friday.

The 21-member delegation, led by Nuclear Safety and Security Commission chief Yoo Guk Hee and including 20 experts, will arrive in Japan on Sunday for a six-day visit and hold a meeting with relevant Japanese institutions on Monday, according to the Office for Government Policy Coordination.

They will inspect relevant facilities at the Fukushima Daiichi plant on Tuesday and Wednesday and hold another meeting based on the inspection results on Thursday, Park Ku Yeon, the first deputy chief of the office, told a press conference.

Photo shows an undersea tunnel to be used to discharge treated water from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station in Japan's northeast. (Photo courtesy of Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.)(Kyodo)

"We plan to come up with more necessary measures for the safety and health of our people through the inspection," Park said as he briefed on the results of working-level talks with Japan held on Wednesday.

Senior Foreign Ministry officials of the two countries also met last week to work out details of the inspection, which was agreed upon during a meeting of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida earlier this month amid improving bilateral ties.

Concerns linger in South Korea over the potential impact of the treated water on the ocean environment, despite Japan's pledge to discharge the water in cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency to ensure its safety.

Water that has become contaminated after being pumped in to cool melted reactor fuel has been accumulating at the complex, devastated by a powerful earthquake and tsunami in 2011, and has also mixed with rainwater and groundwater at the site.

The Japanese government and Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc., the operator of the crippled complex at the time, had been considering ways to safely dispose of the water amid strong opposition to the plan from local fishermen and neighboring countries such as South Korea and China.

About 1.33 million tons of treated water was stored on the plant's premises as of late April and is edging closer to the capacity of 1.37 million tons, according to TEPCO.


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