Tokyo on Friday welcomed a World Trade Organization panel¡¯s ruling that Seoul¡¯s continued import ban on seafood from Fukushima Prefecture ¡ª home to the 2011 nuclear disaster ¡ª and other parts of Japan amounts to the nation taking ¡°arbitrarily and unjustifiably¡± discriminatory measures.
A dispute settlement panel under the WTO published a report Thursday detailing its ruling in favor of Â鶹´«Ã½ complaint against a blanket import ban imposed by South Korea on all fishery products from the prefectures of Fukushima, Miyagi, Iwate, Aomori, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma and Chiba.
While acknowledging Seoul¡¯s measures against seafood from Fukushima and the other nearby prefectures were justified initially, the WTO report said maintaining the ban to date is ¡°more trade-restrictive than required,¡± and recommended that the ban on 28 kinds of fish be lifted, as requested by Japan.
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