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The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Sunday slammed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for "patronizing and facilitating Japan's projected discharge of nuclear-polluted water."
The DPRK also urged the international community to stop Japan from discharging its nuclear wastewater into the sea, according to a press statement from the country's Ministry of Land and Environment Protection, state news agency KCNA reported.
Pyongyang's statement comes after the UN nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, issued a report on July 4, saying that Japan's plans to release "treated water" stored at the power plant into the sea are consistent with IAEA safety standards and the discharges of the "treated water" would have a negligible radiological impact on people and the environment.
Noting that IAEA is not a body for evaluating the environment, the statement said the World Health Organization and many environmental protection organizations have expressed their opposition and concern over Japan's plan.
Japan's nuclear wastewater disposal plan "will have fatal adverse impact on the human lives and security and ecological environment by causing malignant tumors and other diseases," the statement added.
China's Foreign Ministry also voiced concern about the IAEA's report, saying it failed to fully reflect the opinions of all experts involved in the evaluation work, and the relevant conclusions were not unanimously approved by all experts.
The report cannot serve as a "shield" or "green light" for Japan's discharge of nuclear wastewater into the ocean, the ministry said.
According to two global online surveys conducted by CGTN, 79.83 percent of the nearly 34,000 respondents believe the IAEA report failed to address the world's concerns over Japan's disposal plan, while 94.85 percent of respondents condemn Japan's act as extremely irresponsible.
(CGTN)
