Aju Business Daily

SEOUL -- China has made strenuous efforts to reduce air pollution, but about one-third of ultra-fine dust concentrations in South Korea was found to have come across the Yellow Sea in 2017, according to a joint study on the transboundary movement of pollutants in Northeast Asia.

The National Institute of Environmental Research, a state research body, released the summary of a joint survey conducted by experts in South Korea, China and Japan to measure the concentration of sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and particulates -- PM2.5 and PM10. PM2.5 refers to atmospheric particulate matter with a diameter of less than 2.5 micrometers and PM10 is particulate matter 10 micrometers or less.

The survey found that the annual average concentration of SO2, NO2, PM2.5 and PM10 in Northeast Asia has shown a decreasing trend in recent years, despite some uncertainties in modeling and limitations in monitoring. "The dominant contribution to the concentrations in each country is domestic emission in general and highlights the importance of emission reductions," it said.

The impact of Chinese air pollutants on South Korea was still considerable, although PM2.5 concentrations in China were found to have decreased significantly in recent years.

"The self–contributions in China, Korea and Japan are 91.0 percent, 51.2 percent and 55.4 percent, respectively. China’s contributions to major cities in Korea are 32.1 percent, and to major cities in Japan are 24.6 percent," the survey showed, indicating that 31.1 percent of ultrafine dust in South Korea came from China.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in has ordered the gradual shutdown of old fossil-fueled power plants in an effort to alleviate air pollution caused by fine dust, which has been a source of prime public concerns. Fine dust, which refers to particles smaller than 10 micrometers, causes various respiratory problems. South Korea thinks China is aggravating particulate pollution on the Korean peninsula, but experts also point to power plants and vehicles using fossil fuel.

A World Health Organization (WHO) report, presented at the 2018 UN Climate Change Conference in Bonn, showed that 9 out of 10 people breathe air containing high levels of pollutants and that around seven million people every year die from exposure to fine particles in polluted air. The figure could be far surpassed by deaths caused by rising global temperatures and extreme weather if emissions, primarily caused by the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation, are allowed to rise at their present rate.