South Korean imports of Japanese seafood swelled nearly 21 percent in the first quarter of 2023 despite concerns over Tokyo's planned release of contaminated water from its crippled nuclear power plant, government data showed Tuesday.

Seoul imported $48.6 million worth of fishery products from the neighboring country in the January-March period, up 20.9 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service.

It marked the largest first-quarter value of Japanese seafood imports since the meltdown of the Fukushima nuclear power plant in 2011.

In terms of volume, Japanese seafood imports came to some 7,670 tons in the three-month period, up 15 percent from a year earlier.

South Korea banned all seafood imports from eight Japanese prefectures near Fukushima in 2013 on concerns over their radiation levels in the wake of the incident.

First-quarter imports of Japanese seafood rose on-year in the recent three years after seesawing from 2015 to 2019 following a three-year tumble.

In the first quarter of this year, the value of South Korea's overall seafood imports fell 1 percent on-year to $1.42 billion, with their volume sinking 6.2 percent to 349,000 tons.

Industry watchers said the issue of Tokyo's planned discharge of contaminated water appears to have had little impact on Seoul's seafood imports from the country.

But the situation could change should Japan release tainted water from the nuclear power plant in the coming months as planned, they added.

Seoul officials have said South Korea will never lift the import curbs "if it poses any threat to the people's safety and health."

Last year, South Korea's imports of Japanese seafood hit a 12-year high of $174.2 million on a surge in imports of expensive live fish. (Yonhap)