China says invited by IAEA to join group over Japan's Fukushima water plan

BEIJING (Reuters) -China said on Monday the International Atomic Energy Agency(IAEA) would invite Chinese experts to join a working group to monitor and assess Japan's disposal of contaminated water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant.

In a move that angered China and South Korea, Japan said this month it would release into the sea more than 1 million tonnes of contaminated water from the Fukushima plant, which was wrecked by an earthquake and tsunami a decade ago.

China has proposed that the IAEA set up a technical working group, with members from stakeholders including China, to monitor and assess how Japan implements its plan to dispose water from Fukushima, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told a regular news briefing in Beijing.

"The IAEA is actively setting up this working group now and has recently confirmed to China that it would invite Chinese experts to join the group," Wang said.

(Reporting By Yew Lun Tian; Writing by Beijing Newsroom; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

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