The government has said there is no change to the import ban on Japanese seafood products from around the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant after Tokyo announced plans to increase exports of scallops to the country.

First vice minister for government policy and coordination Park Gu-yeon said on Tuesday that the announcement came unilaterally from Tokyo, and Seoul's ban on seafood imports from eight prefectures near the nuclear power plant will remain in place.

The vice minister said radiation testing is conducted each time seafood imports, including scallops, are brought in and that nuclide certificates are requested upon detection of even trace radiation.

Earlier, Japan's Kyodo News reported that Tokyo introduced plans to redirect scallop exports to South Korea, the European Union and other regions in light of a slump in shipments amid Beijing's all-out ban on Japanese seafood imports since August, when Tokyo began discharging wastewater from the plant.

The Japanese government is reportedly seeking to export four-point-one billion yen, or around 29 million U.S. dollars, worth of scallops to South Korea in 2025, amounting to six-point-three percent of total export value.