Article Written By: Jay Won Yoon
Pollution is occurring everywhere at every time. These issues of pollution are becoming larger and serious. Such recent pollution problems are the fine dust covering all of our country where we are living, South Korea.
So what is fine dust? Fine dust is a common air pollutant generated by many different sources and activities. These dust are common in urban areas such as Seoul in Korea. It is created by a range of activities from personal hobbies, such as gardening, to large scale industrial activities such as factories and electricity generation at power stations. Fine dust is dangerous and harmful to our body. There are some major effects the specks of dust are giving to us such as coughing, sneezing, causing irritation of the eyes. For people with respiratory conditions like asthma and chronic obstructive airways disease (COAD), even with a small increase in these fine dust concentration can make their symptoms worse.
Currently, there is no hard evidence that dust causes asthma, however, breathing in high concentrations of dust over many years is thought to reduce lung function in the long term and contribute to disorders like chronic bronchitis and heart and lung disorders.
The clouds of dust coming to Korea is called an Asian Dust (yellow dust). This dust affects much of East Asia year round but especially during the spring months. The dust originates in the deserts of Mongolia, northern China, and Kazakhstan where high-speed surface winds and intense dust storms kick up dense clouds of fine, dry soil particles. These clouds are then carried eastward by prevailing winds and pass over China, North and South Korea, and Japan.
Currently, in Korea, there are 10 coal-fired power plants throughout South Korea. President Moon has now temporarily closed 8 of these and plans to permanently close all of them during his 5-year term. Furthermore, president Moon has also promised to phase-out and eventually ban all diesel vehicles (excluding trucks) by 2030, which are estimated to be responsible for 29 percent of PM2.5 (inhalable particulate matters that deeply penetrate the lungs) in the Seoul metropolitan area.
Bibliography (MLA 8 FORMAT):
Website Citations:
Website 1:
Herald, Korea. “Record Fine Dust Chokes Korea.” The Korea Herald, 5 Mar. 2019, www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20190305000654.
Website 2:
Jung, Woosuk, et al. “South Korea's Air Pollution: Gasping for Solutions.” Institute for Security and Development Policy, 27AD, isdp.eu/publication/south-koreas-air-pollution-gasping-solutions/.
Photo Citations:
Photo 1:
HANKYOREH. “South Korean Stock Market Sees Biggest Plunge since 2008 Crisis amid US-China Trade War.” Income Inequality in South Korea the Most Severe in Asia : National : News : The Hankyoreh, 29 Oct. 2018, english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_business/867853.html.