The government said discharge of contaminated water from Japan's crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was suspended following an earthquake in waters off the eastern prefecture early Friday.

First vice minister for government policy and coordination Park Gu-yeon said the quake was considered to be an "abnormal situation" that called for the water release to be halted and that Tokyo notified Seoul after the suspension.

The vice minister said according to the plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company(TEPCO), no meaningful change has yet been detected by the plant's monitoring equipment and there has not been any radiation leakage.

Emphasizing that Seoul has confirmed the information announced by TEPCO's, Park said the government is monitoring the situation and plans to dispatch experts to Fukushima to conduct a thorough assessment.

In response to the five-point-eight-magnitude quake in waters near Fukushima Prefecture at 12:14 a.m. Friday, TEPCO halted the ongoing water discharge 19 minutes later following a guideline that it must be suspended upon an earthquake of magnitude five or higher.