South Korea said the release of contaminated water from Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant that began at 1 p.m. on Thursday has been safely carried out according to plan.

At a daily briefing on Friday, first vice minister of government policy coordination Park Gu-yeon said Seoul is verifying the safety through real-time data provided by plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company(TEPCO), and diplomatic and regulatory hotlines between the two sides.

The vice minister said a team of experts at the Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety(KINS) is analyzing the discharge and pledged to implement all possible measures at the right time to ensure that there is no adverse impact on public safety and health.

Under an agreement with Japan and the International Atomic Energy Agency(IAEA), talks are under way for a South Korean expert team to visit the IAEA's permanent office at the Fukushima facility for the first of a biweekly inspection this weekend.

Meanwhile, TEPCO, the IAEA and KINS have each opened a website on Thursday that monitors the water release.