The chief Cabinet secretary of Japan said at a press conference on Monday that a high level of radioactive substance is being detected in the turbine pool of Reactor No. 2 because of the water leaking from the containment vessel.

Radioactive materials 1,000 times higher than the limit level were detected in the water around the building that houses Reactors Nos. 1 and 3.

On March 26 radioactive substance more than 1 250 times the limit level was confirmed in the seawater near the nuclear power plant. Radioactive materials 1,850 times higher than that were detected 24 hours later.

The Tokyo Electric Power Co. announced on Tuesday that a high level of plutonium was discovered in the soil of five locations in the compound of the power plant.

Radioactive iodine was detected in 8 areas of south Korea including Seoul as of Tuesday while radioactive substance that leaked from Japan keeps spreading to other countries and regions.

The death toll caused by the quake and the ensuing tsunami reached 10,872, the number of those unaccounted for 16,244 and that of the wounded 2,776 as of 10:00 of Monday, the National Police Agency of Japan said.