The South Korean trade ministry has filed an appeal against the World Trade Organization's decision to lift the ban on imports of Japanese marine products.
The ban was put in place for public safety,... after the nuclear disaster in Fukushima seven years ago.
Our Park Hee-jun reports.
South Korea has appealed against a ruling by the World Trade Organization that would remove import restrictions on Japanese seafood from areas affected by the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster.
The trade ministry's decision on Monday comes after a WTO dispute panel ruled that while South Korea's measures were initially justified,... maintaining them violated WTO rules.

Since the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, people in Japan and neighboring countries,... have been worried over radioactive contamination in seafood from the area.
South Korea imposed a partial ban on marine products from certain prefectures in the region-- as did other countries.
And two years later in 2013, Seoul expanded the ban to all fishery products from eight Japanese prefectures.

Japan first filed a complaint at the WTO back in 2015,... arguing that the levels of radiation in Fukushima were safe, and challenging Seoul's import bans and additional testing requirements on fish caught from the eight prefectures near Fukushima.
And this February,... the WTO accepted Japan's argument, saying Korea's ban was unjustifiable.

Under usual circumstances, it takes around 90 days for the WTO to reach a final decision.
But due to the recent rise in the number of cases taken to the WTO,... it could take until the end of this year or even early next year before the WTO makes its final decision.
Until then, South Korea's ban on seafood imports from around Fukushima will remain in place.

Park Hee-jun, Arirang News.