TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced on Monday a 20.7-billion yen ($141-million) emergency fund to help exporters hit by China's ban on Japanese seafood over the release of treated radioactive wastewater from the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant.

The discharge of the wastewater into the ocean began on August 24 and is expected to continue for decades. Japanese fishing associations and groups in neighboring countries have strongly opposed the release. In addition to China's ban on all Japanese seafood imports, Hong Kong has banned Japanese seafood from Fukushima and nine other prefectures.