By Yoon Ja-young



The government plans to appeal to the World Trade Organization (WTO) following its loss in a dispute over Korea's import restriction on fisheries from Fukushima, Japan.



"The government determined we should appeal (the WTO's ruling) to protect public health and safety," the trade ministry noted in a press release Friday.



"The imports restriction will be in place regardless of the WTO ruling, and the government will make its utmost efforts for food security, preventing radiation-contaminated foods from being placed on our tables."



The Switzerland-based organization disclosed its panel ruling on Thursday, regarding Japan's complaints over Korea's imposition of import bans and additional testing and certification requirements for radionuclide content following the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident on Japan's northeastern coast in March 2011. The import ban applied to 50 kinds of fishery products from eight prefectures of Japan: Aomori, Chiba, Fukushima, Gunma, Ibaraki, Iwate, Miyagi and Tochigi. Back then, China and Taiwan stopped all food imports from prefectures around Fukushima.



Following the 2013 announcement by Tokyo Electric Power that radiation-contaminated water was leaked as well as growing public voices that Korea should expand its import ban like other countries, the 2013-17 Park Geun-hye administration imposed a blanket import ban on all Japanese fishery products from the eight prefectures.



Japan, however, challenged Korea's import ban and additional testing requirements as being inconsistent with provisions of the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS Agreement).



The WTO panel found Korea's 2011 additional testing requirements and product-specific import bans in the following year were "neither discriminatory nor more trade-restrictive than required when adopted."



However, it ruled the maintenance of these measures as well as the adoption and maintenance of the 2013 additional testing requirements was inconsistent with the SPS Agreement, failing to comply with transparency obligations, being discriminatory and restricting trade more than required.



Both Korea and Japan can appeal to an appellate body regarding the panel decision within 60 days. The WTO should come up with a ruling on the appeal within three months. The government said the import restrictions will be maintained until the completion of the WTO dispute settlement procedure. If Korea loses the appeal, it gets up to 15 months to execute the WTO's ruling. This means fish from Fukushima may be on Korean tables as early as 2020.



Korea Radiation Watch, a local NGO, strongly opposed the WTO ruling.



"The Japanese government, which illegally discharged the radiation-contaminated water, is responsible for the import restriction," it noted in a media release.



"It is related with public health. The government should actively confront the ruling."