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| A worker collects salt at a salt field in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, Aug. 21. Yonhap |
Korea has launched intensive radiation tests on salt fields across the country amid safety concerns over Japan's release of contaminated water from its crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant, the oceans ministry said Wednesday.
Last week, Japan began discharging radioactive water from the power plant into the ocean, sparking concerns about its impact on the environment, seafood and public health.
Commissioned by the government, private institutions began inspecting the radiation levels of all the country's 687 smaller-sized salt farms Tuesday, Vice Oceans Minister Park Sung-hoon said during a regular briefing on the Fukushima issue.
The ministry has been carrying out radiation tests on the country's 150 major salt fields since April, and it decided to strengthen the move by mobilizing private entities to ease public concerns about the safety of salt and other marine products.
"We will wrap up the tests on salt farms by October, when this year's salt production ends. The government will then carry out radiation checks on packaged salt starting in November to dispel safety woes," Park said.
So far, the government has checked 109 samples from 86 salt farms, and all met safety standards, he added. (Yonhap)
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