Society

'Please drink' treated Fukushima water: China asks Japan's minister

Apr 15 (Kyodo) - China on Wednesday asked Japanese Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso to drink treated radioactive water accumulated at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, after he said it is safe to drink it.

"A Japanese official said it is okay if we drink this water, so then please drink it," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told reporters, adding Japan's ignorance of the ecological environment is "totally unjustifiable."

On Tuesday, the Japanese government decided to release the treated water into the sea from the plant in two years, a major development following more than seven years of discussions on how to discharge the water used to cool down melted fuel there.

Aso, a former prime minister who has often made controversial remarks since he became deputy prime minister and finance minister in 2012, said at a press conference on Tuesday, "I have heard that we will have no harm if we drink" the treated water.

Zhao said, "Japan's Minamata disease happened not far away and the pain of the local victims has yet to be healed," referring to one of the four big pollution diseases in the country.

Source: ANNnewsCH

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