South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said Thursday the government will allocate 80 billion won ($60.4 million) to help boost consumption of domestic seafood, which has been hit following Japan's release of treated radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea.
The allocation comes amid opposition among many in South Korea to the water release, which commenced a week earlier, due to concern over seafood safety. The South Korean government has said it has found no scientific or technical issues with the discharge.
Yoon unveiled the funding, covering up to a 60-percent discount on domestic seafood products, at a regular meeting on the economy and people's livelihoods.
South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck Soo urged Japan on the day the discharge commenced, which is expected to last around 30 years, to disclose relevant information "in a transparent and responsible manner."
According to the plant's operator Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. and Japanese authorities, no detectable amounts of tritium have been found in seawater samples collected near the site of the Fukushima complex.
