Eight civic groups in Japan's southernmost prefecture of Okinawa have issued a joint statement to oppose the planned release of nuclear-contaminated water into the ocean, local Okinawan newspaper the Ryukyu Shimpo reported Friday.

The civic groups, including the Okinawa Environmental Club and the Okinawa Peaceful Citizen Liaison Council, held a press conference at the Okinawa prefectural government office on Thursday, where they signed the statement, expressing strong opposition to the discharge of nuclear wastewater from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the sea.

"From the perspective of peace and environmental protection, we strongly oppose the discharge of nuclear-contaminated water," civic activists said at the press conference. "This so-called treated water that cannot completely remove harmful substances, once discharged into the sea, will cause the marine environment to never return to the past, which is destroying the natural environment."

Meanwhile, the Ryukyu Shimpo published a commentary on Tuesday criticizing that the Japanese government's ocean release plan is a decision in complete disregard of public opinion.

The planned discharge of nuclear wastewater is a betrayal and abandonment of those who want to restore their homes in Fukushima as soon as possible, and is a major human rights violation, it said. 

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