The expression polluted water came from an interview with Senator Seong Il-jong of the People's Power.

In an interview with SBS Radio, Sung said that he thinks it is appropriate to use contaminated water as treated water, saying that contaminated water from the nuclear plant is filtered through the Alps, which is a multinucleate species removal facility, and then discharged.

[Councillor Seong Il-jong of the People's Power: I think it would be correct to write polluted treated water because the water that is discharged to the outside is treated first.]

I was saying that I agree with a media report that our government is considering changing the official term contaminated water to treated water.

The opposition immediately reacted.

Millennium Democratic Party spokesman Park Sung-joon criticized the government in a written comment, saying, "Are you trying to create the impression that contaminated water from Japan's nuclear plants is safe by changing the name?" and that "we don't know which government is working for the interests of any country."

Lee Joon-suk, former chairman of the People's Power Committee, also pointed out on social media, "Even if we try to change the name of what is flying from North Korea to a projectile, the people knew that it was a missile," adding, "No matter what we change the name to, the people's opinion will not change much."

In the wake of the controversy, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, "Our government consistently calls it contaminated water, and has not considered changing it to treated water."

(Interview: Cho Sung-hyun / Video Editor: Lee Seung-hee / Production: Digital News Editorial Department)