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Amid controversy over the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) withholding a report that called for a nationwide long-term study of Koreans’ health to determine the effects of Japan’s dumping of radioactively contaminated water from Fukushima, a panel of experts that reviewed the report say the findings should be made public.

An evaluation of a 2022 study commissioned by the KDCA on the “effects of contaminated water containing radioactive substances on the human body,” that was obtained Wednesday by the office of Kang Sun-woo, a Democratic Party lawmaker who serves on the National Assembly’s Health and Welfare Committee, included opinions of the reviewers that said there was no reason to not disclose the report.

The expert reviewers noted a need to make the findings public and jumpstart discussion, arguing there was a need to widely publicize the need to carry out a longitudinal study over the course of many years.

A form of peer review, this type of evaluation is carried out by experts in the field before a commissioned policy study is finalized. In the case of the KDCA’s commissioned report, peer reviewers requested partial revisions, which were reflected before the report was finalized and issued.

The study concluded that as the effects of low-dose radiation, defined as below 100 millisieverts, on the human body have not been scientifically proven and the discharge of the contaminated water from Fukushima will significantly increase the dose of radiation to which Koreans are exposed, it would be necessary to conduct a longitudinal study of big data over the course of a minimum of 20 years to assess the impact of the dumping on public health.

In August 2022, the KDCA decided against disclosing the findings of the study until May 2024, citing an allowance in the Official Information Disclosure Act for not disclosing information “in the decision-making process or internal review process.”

With the presidential office and the ruling party maintaining that Japan’s dumping of radioactively contaminated water is safe, this revelation is expected to stoke further controversy over whether the KDCA withheld the report and disregarded the opinions of experts to ingratiate itself with the ruling camp.

The KDCA has also come under fire for omitting this specific commissioned report when it was asked by the National Assembly to submit a list of undisclosed research contracts ahead of the annual parliamentary audit of the agency. Appearing for the audit at the National Assembly, KDCA Commissioner Jee Young-mee said that it was “not intentionally omitted” and that “a mistake had been made in the processes of converting it from undisclosed to disclosed.”

By Shim Woo-sam, staff reporter

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