Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan on Saturday made his first visit to the evacuation zone around the stricken reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, NHK television reported.
Kan spoke to evacuees in a makeshift camp in the village of Rikuzentakata in Iwate prefecture, one of the areas worst hit by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, before entering the 20km exclusion zone to meet workers battling to stop radiation leaks at the tsunami-crippled plant.
Efforts continue to cool overheating fuel at Fukushima to try to prevent nuclear fallout.
The death toll from the quake and tsunami has passed 11,500, while nearly 16,500 remain unaccounted for.
MOSCOW, April 2 (RIA Novosti)
