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Japan slams WTO ruling on South Korean Fukushima food ban

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The ban is reasonable. Especially when you have so many reports showing that the company responsible for cleaning up the mess hasn't been doing the best job. Also, with the government forcing people back into the area when they know it is not 100% safe. Radiation poisoning is dangerous. There was a report showing that fish as far over as Canada and the U.S. were being poisoned by the radiation in Japan.

6 ( +19 / -13 )

I live here and don't eat anything from that area. It's a sad fact because of all the lies the government has told us

9 ( +21 / -12 )

Better safe than sorry

13 ( +21 / -8 )

@dbsaiya

I live here and don't eat anything from that area. It's a sad fact because of all the lies the government has told us

Actually, you don't know for sure if you are eating anything from that area. Have you not heard about all the food labeling scandals?

9 ( +16 / -7 )

Abe san should be ashamed in trying to export Fukushima seafood and produce when they are rejected by Japanese consumers and are dirt cheap.

Fukushima is not safe for people to live on, and Fukushima food is not safe to consume for the next 100 years. When will Abe san accept this reality...

7 ( +19 / -12 )

Absolutely any sane nation should be banning these products. How is something so logical even up for debate??? What is wrong with this planet???

12 ( +23 / -11 )

@Wallace Fred

Absolutely any sane nation should be banning these products.

And it was Abe administration suing countries for banning importation of Fukushima area food at WTO, insisting that they were safe to eat.

0 ( +11 / -11 )

Fred, it's not the whole planet. It's a few, very, very greedy people. The irony is that the greedy ones are never short of a meal.

1 ( +8 / -7 )

Abe san should be ashamed in trying to export Fukushima seafood and produce when they are rejected by Japanese consumers and are dirt cheap.

Nothing will ashame this poor excuse of a PM

6 ( +17 / -11 )

How does the Japanese position make the slightest possible sense?

After several reactors suffer meltdowns and radioactive gases are released in explosive reactions, radioactive particles are scattered over a wide area and precipitation also spreads more of the same then.....we should continue to export food that Japanese people don’t want????

5 ( +16 / -11 )

Where is the labeling on domestic fish....

11 ( +15 / -4 )

You start to wonder if the produce we buy here in Japan is labelled correctly....we had these same issues before.

12 ( +19 / -7 )

The food standard apply by Korea towards Japanese food is the same standards we should apply to their products.

S. Koreas pollution is well known, it affects the food and soil just like the air.

1 ( +13 / -12 )

As one of you may or may not know,, any catch is labeled as coming from the port it is landed at.

Think about that.

8 ( +8 / -0 )

It great to find an Asian country that actually cares about it people.

0 ( +10 / -10 )

South Korea is correct. You have a right to protect your society. Japan would do the same if American beef had signs of BSE in it. The ban may last many years. I guess that's just karma ;-)

8 ( +17 / -9 )

I'm sure Japanese would like to have their own food labelled by region too but they won't be allowed the choice

2 ( +6 / -4 )

When i was in my 20s I got a 2day arubaito in a warehouse in the Port of Osaka.

The job? To spend the day scratching off labels from some unopened whine bottles. Mmmm....

5 ( +7 / -2 )

If you eat out, how do you know where the fish came from?

9 ( +10 / -1 )

I don’t understand why Japan is making fuss about it. As some posters mentioned already, no sane country should trust Japanese labeling, certification or inspection data. The newspapers always have headlines about some unethical practices by Japan Inc.

But LDP will try to make this issue look political as usual.

3 ( +9 / -6 )

In free societies, isn't it the right of any consumer to decide where they purchase from? Under what basis could this even be contested by Japan?

1 ( +5 / -4 )

Ultimately the South Koreans are responsible to their people for food safety/security. I know Japan is complaining from an economic angle but the court has issued their ruling so move on!

-2 ( +3 / -5 )

Who chose the emotionally charged word 'slam' for this headline. I've never seen Japanese slam anything in public. What happens inside some homes might be different.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Japan has lots of bans on food stuffs from other places around the world. Seems hypocritical for Japan to criticize a Korean ban on tainted food stuffs.

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

Samit BasuToday  07:48 am JST

Abe san should be ashamed in trying to export Fukushima seafood and produce

The issue is seafood from other parts of Japan than Fukushima.

papigiulioToday  08:54 am JST

You start to wonder if the produce we buy here in Japan is labelled correctly

Go prove it. But you cannot ban products based on some wild "mislabel" speculation.

Mike DashlerToday  02:07 pm JST

In free societies, isn't it the right of any consumer to decide where they purchase from? 

Exactly, that is why SK Government should not ban import.

goldeneagleToday  01:10 pm JST

I don’t understand why Japan is making fuss about it.

The initial panel gave Japan a favorable ruling. That means Japan did have a strong argument.

What I know about the previous ruling was that SK government failed to show radioactive contamination of Japanese seafood, and they lost the initial ruling. I do not know if they could show, this time, the contamination or if their argument was based only on "fear" of contamination as the article suggests.

Fearing radioactive contamination, Seoul imposed a partial ban on seafood imports

2 ( +5 / -3 )

CH3CHOToday  07:10 pm JST

Samit BasuToday  07:48 am JST

Abe san should be ashamed in trying to export Fukushima seafood and produce

The issue is seafood from other parts of Japan than Fukushima.

The article says it's

a ban by South Korea on some seafood from Fukushima imposed after the 2011 nuclear disaster.

and then it continues with

According to Fukushima authorities, four countries and regions -- China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau -- have maintained a ban on importing a broad range of locally-produced foods.

so the problem seems to be only the Fukushima produce/seafood.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

I find funny how everyone here is ignoring the fact that the EU, unlike South Korea and the US, lifted the bans. All you need is to test the food when you import it. Keeping the ban is an obvious excuse to protect local products, and everyone knows the political situation between Japan and Korea, and the perpetual trade war between the US and Japan...

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

@1glenn: so, the ban is based on facts or petty revenge?

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

Anyway, South Korea can ban this food, but how someone else said, if also Japan decides that air pollution in South Korea is making some kinds of Korean food unsafe, South Korea shouldn't complain, I guess...

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Fair play South Korea. Frankly, I think That the USA should ban all Japanese cars until all Takata airbags are replaced.

-2 ( +3 / -5 )

@Ex_Res: especially Japanese carmakers should close all their plants in the US. I bet we would welcome them here in Europe.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

I don’t understand why Japan is making fuss about it.

On my experience, there is nothing in the world more irritating than the Japanese when the don't get their own way on something. Worse than a spoilt child.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

@zichi

Fish caught off the Fukushima coast but landed in Tokyo becomes Tokyo fish.

Actually, most of Pacific saury popularly consumed in S. Korea is caught in the high sea near Fukushima, but becomes Taiwanese fish. Nobody mentions it, except me. Fact does not matter in people's emotional panic.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

most of Pacific saury popularly consumed in S. Korea is caught in the high sea near Fukushima, but becomes Taiwanese fish. Nobody mentions it, except me.

Sounds like a conspiracy theory.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

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