South Korea conducted a nationwide drill Tuesday to test its ability to respond to a nuclear crisis situation in Japan, a government commission said.

Authorities examined the readiness to deal with possible radioactive materials coming in from nuclear power plants in the nearby island nation, the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission said.

The drill was based on the assumption of a massive earthquake hitting the Genkai Nuclear Plant and causing radioactive materials to be released into the environment, it said. The plant is located only 190 kilometers away from South Korea's southern port city of Busan.

The training involved the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, as well as other agencies, officials said.

The drill comes as several nuclear power plants in Japan have recently come back on line after the Fukushima incident. The accident is rated as the worst nuclear disaster in history on par with the Chernobyl disaster that took place in the former Soviet Union in 1986. (Yonhap)