Chefs for the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee prepare boxed meals for South Korean athletes at the Tokyo Olympics at a kitchen inside Henn na Hotel in Urayasu, Japan, on July 20, 2021. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Aug. 4 (Korea Bizwire) — As the Korean food supplier for the South Korean national teams at the Tokyo Olympics continues to raise controversy among Japanese politicians, the Japanese government continues to insist that food from Fukushima is safe.
Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said at a press conference on Tuesday that Japan is using the Tokyo Summer Games as “an opportunity to tell the world that agro-fisheries from areas affected by the East Japan Earthquake (in 2011) are safe.”
“We have delivered the official stance of the Japanese government to South Korea,” he said.
Toshimitsu said that the Japanese government sees the Olympic Games as symbolic of a revival of Japan, trying to show the world how much the Tohoku region and Fukushima have recovered.
South Korea has offered its athletes a meal service since the 2008 Beijing Olympics with the purpose of managing the Korean national team’s nutrition.
Nevertheless, Japanese politicians have been raising accusations that the Korean team has brought the food supplier to avoid food from Fukushima.
Masahisa Sato, a member of the Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, called it “an act that tramples on the hearts of Fukushima residents.”
H. M. Kang (hmkang@koreabizwire.com)
