Second vice foreign minister Lee Do-hoon met with the chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency(IAEA) to discuss Japan's planned discharge of contaminated water from its crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant into the sea.

According to Seoul's foreign ministry on Wednesday, Lee held a meeting with IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi in Austria on Tuesday in which he asked the organization to continue to conduct a thorough safety review of the planned discharge based on science.

The vice minister also called for the agency's cooperation to ensure that South Korean research institutes can continue to participate in IAEA activities in order to enhance the transparency such activities.

He called for more active communication by the IAEA with interested countries including South Korea and the Pacific Islands on the agency’s review of Japan's discharge of treated water from the crippled nuclear power plant.

Lee also noted the continued monitoring by the IAEA of North Korea's nuclear activities and contributions to raising awareness of the North Korean nuclear issue in the international community.