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| Korean Flags and signs hang on the apartment building housing Korea's Olympics team, at the Athletes Village in Tokyo, Saturday, ahead of the Games. Yonhap |
By Jung Da-min
Controversy is rising in Japan over the Korean national team avoiding consuming ingredients from Fukushima when dining at a restaurant in the Athletes Village for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, set to begin July 23.
According to the Japanese daily Yomiuri Shimbun, Saturday, the Korean Sports and Olympic Committee is warning its members to be careful about ingredients from Fukushima when using the restaurant, citing a possible risk of contamination by radioactive material.
The report criticized the Korean sports committee's move, calling it unfair considering that Fukushima has been shipping only safe agricultural and marine products that passed radioactive material testing, while the Olympics organization committee has been explaining the safety of the food ingredients from Fukushima by disclosing the test results.
It also said the Korean sports committee's providing meal boxes to those who want them and using ingredients it has brought from Korea, while avoiding Japanese ingredients, citing the risk of radioactive material, was hurtful to the Japanese people.
Masahisa Sato, a member of the House of Councillors in the Diet and a member of the country's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), was cited by the newspaper as saying, "We are very careful about the ingredients (we supply to the Athletes Village) with hospitality." Sato added that the Korean sports committee's action was "trampling on the hearts of Fukushima residents."
According to the report, some members of the LDP have also complained about the Korean sports committee's "excessive" response to Fukushima ingredients.
