Ruling and opposition parties engage in war of words during national audit over remarks made by Democratic Party representative Lee Jae-myung on Fukushima agricultural products - South Korea

On the 11th, during a national audit by the National Assembly's Agriculture, Forestry, Livestock, Food, Marine and Fisheries Committee, Lee Jae-myung and other representatives of the Democratic Party (opposition) said, ``You can buy agricultural products from Fukushima, but you can't buy rice from our farmers.''
"Does that mean we won't be able to do so?" sparked a heated exchange of words between the ruling and opposition parties. Prior to this, Representative Lee announced on March 31 that the government and ruling party had asked President Yoon Seo-gyul (Yun Seok-yue) to take control of grain.
He made this criticism by proposing to exercise his veto power over the proposed law reform. In the national audit, the People's Power (ruling party) pointed out that Lee's statements like this have the potential to cause misunderstandings among the people.
The main party countered that the statement was harmless. Choi Chun-sik, a member of the People's Power Council, said, ``If you announce something that is not true as if it were true, the chaos that ensues will result.''
It will be a pain and trial that we will have to endure as citizens. If we take Representative Lee's statement at face value, wouldn't it be accepted as saying that we imported Fukushima agricultural products?"
raised the issue. In response, the Democratic Party of Japan and the Democratic Party of Japan countered that Lee's statement was ``comprehensive of the current situation in which foods processed from Fukushima agricultural and marine products are being imported, and there is no problem.''
. Ju Chul-hyun, a member of the Democratic Party, said, ``Food processed from Fukushima agricultural products and marine products is coming in, but the general public is not sure whether it is marine products or processed marine products, agricultural products or processed agricultural products.
I don't know if it's a manufactured item. The government must accurately inform the truth and allow the public to identify and choose processed foods made from Fukushima agricultural and fishery products."
He further pointed out, ``Is (the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry, Livestock and Food) not making any effort at all to improve the system and agreeing with the criticisms of other party representatives?''
Since 2013, the South Korean government has banned the import of marine products from eight prefectures near Fukushima and 27 agricultural products from 15 prefectures.