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Seoul, April 16 (IANS) North Korea has slammed Japan's decision to discharge radioactive wastewater into the Pacific Ocean as a "threat to human existence" and demanded its immediate withdrawal to prevent a "new catastrophe for the humanity", state media reported.
In a statement on Thursday, Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said: "Japan is to bring a new catastrophe to the humanity which has been suffering from a global malignant infectious disease. It should withdraw the decision immediately."
The KCNA added that the planned release would cause a vast amount of dangerous substances to spread to most parts of the Pacific within a few days, reports Yonhap News Agency.
It constitutes "an unpardonable criminal decision posing grave threat to health and security of mankind and ecological environment", the news outlet said.
KCNA added the decision shows Japan's "shamelessness and gangster-like nature".
The radioactive wastewater, accumulated at the Fukushima nuclear power plant since the massive 2011 earthquake and tsunami that triggered a triple core meltdown, contains such materials as tritium, cesium and strontium far beyond the tolerable limits, Xinhua news agency quoted the KCNA as saying.
The radioactive wastewater, if discharged into the sea, will destroy the ecological environment of the sea, a common wealth of mankind, and entail serious risks to health and existence of the people in coastal areas, it said.
For North Korea, which lies across a sea from Japan, the decision "is a matter of seriousness related to the life and security of our people", it said.
"Japan should immediately withdraw its decision on radioactive water discharge, well aware of the anti-Japanese resentment of our enraged people."
The Japanese government on Tuesday announced its decision to start releasing radioactive water accumulated at the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea after treatment, amid domestic and international opposition.
On Wednesday, China strongly urged Japan to reconsider its decision on the disposal of nuclear waste, while South Korea, Russia and the European Commission had expressed deep concerns over the issue.
The Fukushima plant suffered meltdowns at three of its six reactors after it was hit by a powerful earthquake and ensuing tsunami in March 2011.
Since then, the operator has continued to inject water into the three reactors to keep cooling melted atomic fuel there.
Radiation-contaminated water at the site has been treated through an advanced liquid processing system, but tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen, cannot be removed.
--IANS
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