Will Fukushima water contaminate the Korean coast in 200 days? No, that's not true: it will reach the coast of South Korea, but it will take several years.
The claim appeared in a video (archived here) published on TikTok by @hue7942 on April 1st, 2023, with the caption "#퇴진의시간 #기시다바리": "#timetoresign #Kishidaspet," which stands for Fumio Kishida (the Japanese prime minister) + Shidabari, a Japanese word meaning "under someone else's control." The video opened:
Kiel University in Germany simulated Fukushima water release: it will reach Jeju Island in 200 days.
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Wed Apr 12 06:46:12 2023 UTC)
Even though Japan did announce their planned release of the Fukushima radioactive water into the ocean, and there is a significant concern for the environment, the claim is highly exaggerated. The TikTok post mentions a video from GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, affiliated with the University of Kiel. But the original video is now unavailable; only this screenshot image remains on GEOMAR's website.
The image refers to a letter published on the Institute of Physics website (IOP), stating that radioactive material will stay in the western Pacific, not going close to the Korean coast even one year after release. Also, according to their joint research, the Korea Institute of Ocean Science & Technology (KIOST) and Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) said Fukushima water would reach the Korean coast 4-5 years after the release.
