North Korea criticized Sunday the International Atomic Energy Agency for assuring the safety of Japan's release of treated radioactive water from the disaster-hit Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea, reiterating its opposition to the discharge plan, according to state-run media.

The envisioned water release will have a "fatal adverse impact on the human lives and security and ecological environment," a senior official of the country's Land and Environment Protection Ministry was quoted as saying in a statement by the official Korean Central News Agency.

Last Tuesday, the IAEA submitted to Japan its safety review of the planned water release, saying it is "consistent" with international safety standards and will have "a negligible radiological impact on people and the environment" if implemented.

"What matters is the unreasonable behavior of (the) IAEA actively patronizing and facilitating Japan's projected discharge of nuclear-polluted water, which is unimaginable," the statement said.

The IAEA is "not a body for evaluating (the) environment," the senior official said, pointing out that there is no provision or clause in international law specifying the nuclear watchdog is entitled to allow a country or region to discharge "nuclear-polluted" water.

Pyongyang also lambasted IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi's "typical expression of extreme double standards," saying he has denounced the North's "exercise of its legitimate right" to pursue nuclear programs while ignoring the "illegal and unethical act of Japan to imperil the lives and security of humankind."

The statement also touched on South Korean media reports alleging Japan offered 1 million euros ($1.1 million) to an IAEA staff member involved in the inspection of the planned Fukushima water discharge to allow Tokyo an opportunity to modify the final report.

The Japanese Foreign Ministry denied the media reports in late June, saying it is "absolutely untrue that Japan made a political donation to the IAEA, that the conclusions of the IAEA review report were fixed from the beginning."

Tokyo "strongly opposes the irresponsible dissemination of such false information," the ministry said in a statement on June 22.

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