Japan is set to begin releasing contaminated water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant for the ninth time Thursday.

First Vice Minister of Government Policy Coordination Kim Jong-moon announced the date during a briefing in Seoul on Wednesday. 

Kim said Seoul will thoroughly monitor real-time data on the release and the level of tritium in the discharged water, as it did on the other occasions. 

He also stressed that Seoul will exert efforts to ensure the health and safety of the South Korean people by checking and verifying conditions surrounding the discharge. 

Kim said even if other countries consider easing restrictions on Japanese fishery imports, the South Korean government will not consider doing so, stressing that it will not compromise when it comes to the people’s health and safety. 

Since the first water release on August 24 of last year, the Tokyo Electric Power Company, the operator of the Fukushima facility, has released some 62-thousand-600 tons of wastewater into the ocean on eight occasions.