The government sent an official letter to the International Atomic Energy Agency on Thursday requesting help against Japan dumping radioactive water from the stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant into the ocean.

The Ministry of Science and ICT in a press conference in Seoul on Thursday said it plans to "take joint measures with the international community to search for a safe way to handle radioactive water from the Fukushima plant."

The letter urges the IAEA to join hands with Japan's neighbors. Seoul also plans to raise the issue at the IAEA General Conference in Vienna, Austria from Sept. 16 to 20.

The plant, which suffered a catastrophic meltdown when a 6.6-magnitude earthquake shook the region back in 2011, creates 170 tons of radioactive water a day and the Japanese government says it is running out of storage.

Even if the size of the storage tank is increased according to plans drafted by Tokyo Electric Power Company, it is expected to reach full capacity of 1.37 million tons by the summer of 2022.

Greenpeace recently accused Japan of trying to dump the water into the ocean, but that has not been confirmed.

