The World Trade Organization (WTO), on the night of the 11th (local time), withdrew the first panel ruling on the litigation dispute related to the import regulations on Japan’s foods and determined that Korea’s import regulations conform to the WTO agreements. In response, the Korea National Council of Consumer Organizations (Chairperson Gyeong-Soon Ju) expressed their appreciation of the government’s efforts prior to the ruling and welcomed the decision, because this is the first time that the first trial results have been reversed in the WTO sanitation and phytosanitary (SPS) dispute.

In February 2018, the WTO issued its first judgment stating that Korea’s regulations concerning Japanese fishery products violated the WTO agreements. In the case of “Discrimination” and “Trade Restrictions”, which were controversial items during the ruling process, it was judged at the first trial that although the risks of Japanese foods and those of third countries’ are similar when based on the radiation test figures for Japanese foods, the import regulations on Japanese food products were only a form of arbitrary discrimination that is prohibited under the Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Agreement. However, the appeals court ruled that it was incorrect to consider the radiological test values of the foods used in determining whether the situation in Japan and a third country were similar, and expressed South Korea’s view that the environmental conditions that may affect food contamination should have been considered. As a result, all the fishery products from the eight prefectures of Japan are prohibited from imports. Furthermore, if there is a trace amount of radioactivity in any imported Japanese foods, a certificate of an inspection for 17 additional nuclides should be added.

However, people are still worried about importing the Japanese fishery products from Fukushima. This is because radioactive polluted water is reported as still being released in Japan, and the radioactivity test of Japanese fishery products has been limited to just a small sample. The government should recognize the anxiety of the people concerning this radioactivity and should implement strong policies on the import fisheries, in order to protect the lives and safety of consumers while continuing to monitor the products.