On 8 October 2012, Jan Beranek, Greenpeace International energy team lead, and Dr. Rianne Teule, Greenpeace International nuclear campaigner, were stopped at Seoul's Incheon airport and not allowed into the country, where they were due to present at a seminar on nuclear power and meet journalists. Both of them had been allowed into South Korea in the past and no official reasons were given for today's denial of access. In total, six staff from Greenpeace International and Greenpeace East Asia have been denied access to South Korea since last November. Beranek is a long-time critic of nuclear power, while Teule is an expert on the risks of radiation and contamination. She has overseen several operations near the Fukushima nuclear disaster site in Japan to independently measure and sample radiation contamination. Beranek and Teule were invited into South Korea by the group Joint Action for a Nuclear-Free Society, which represents about 40 Korean civic groups, to present at a seminar on the danger of operating the Canadian CANDU nuclear reactor. The Korean government is pursuing an extension to the operating life of the CANDU in Wolsong, one of the oldest reactors of this type in the world. The seminar was to be followed by a joint news conference. The denial of access comes just days after two 1,000-megawatt nuclear reactors at separate South Korean plants were shut down for systems malfunctions. The shutdowns sparked demands for a safety review. In addition, South Korea will host a pre-meeting later in October of the UN climate conference in Doha, and at the same time a meeting of the Global Green Growth Institute. The government is expected to use these stages to greenwash its nuclear industry. Last year, media reported that South Korea would spend $9 million US to counter the work of Greenpeace and other non-governmental organisations

Green Peace

On 8 October 2012, Jan Beranek, Greenpeace International energy team lead, and Dr. Rianne Teule, Greenpeace International nuclear campaigner, were stopped at Seoul's Incheon airport and not allowed into the country, where they were due to present at a seminar on nuclear power and meet journalists. Both of them had been allowed into South Korea in the past and no official reasons were given for today's denial of access. In total, six staff from Greenpeace International and Greenpeace East Asia have been denied access to South Korea since last November. Beranek is a long-time critic of nuclear power, while Teule is an expert on the risks of radiation and contamination. She has overseen several operations near the Fukushima nuclear disaster site in Japan to independently measure and sample radiation contamination. Beranek and Teule were invited into South Korea by the group Joint Action for a Nuclear-Free Society, which represents about 40 Korean civic groups, to present at a seminar on the danger of operating the Canadian CANDU nuclear reactor. The Korean government is pursuing an extension to the operating life of the CANDU in Wolsong, one of the oldest reactors of this type in the world. The seminar was to be followed by a joint news conference. The denial of access comes just days after two 1,000-megawatt nuclear reactors at separate South Korean plants were shut down for systems malfunctions. The shutdowns sparked demands for a safety review. In addition, South Korea will host a pre-meeting later in October of the UN climate conference in Doha, and at the same time a meeting of the Global Green Growth Institute. The government is expected to use these stages to greenwash its nuclear industry. Last year, media reported that South Korea would spend $9 million US to counter the work of Greenpeace and other non-governmental organisations