Schools to close on warning of fine dust from next year

By Nam Hyun-woo

Starting next year, the government will have schools closed and impose restrictions on driving when a fine dust warning is issued.

The Ministry of Environment said it will institute such measures when the average atmospheric concentration level of particulate matter 10 (PM10) surpasses 250 micrograms per cubic meter for 24 hours.

Though the initiative is non-binding, local governments can prohibit drivers who do not follow it from entering certain places, such as public offices. The central and local governments have yet to come up with details on how to control traffic.

The government plans to put more dust-clearing vehicles into service.

A watch is issued when the average PM10 level hovers over 120 micrograms per cubic meter during a 24-hour period, and it is raised to a warning when the level reaches over 250.

In Korea, a warning has not been issued so far, though the PM10 concentration level remained over 300 micrograms per cubic meter for an hour last month.

The ministry submitted its plans at Cabinet meeting, and said it has came up with a way to effectively control the atmospheric pollutant that posed a serious harm to public health in recent months.

As part of the plan, the ministry pledged to run pilot projects for forecasting PM2.5 concentration levels from next month, earlier than initially scheduled in 2015.

Also, it will encourage drivers to change their vehicles to eco-friendly ones in hopes of raising the number of such cars registered in the metropolitan area to 20 percent by 2024.

During the Cabinet meeting, the ministry said it has consulted with officials in China ― likely a primary source of fine particles pollution here ― and the two countries may soon share real-time air pollution data.