52% of fine dust generated in Korea
Members of environmental civic groups hold a press conference at the National Assembly on Yeouido, Seoul, demanding the government halt moves to build coal-fired power plants, Wednesday. /Yonhap
Joint research with NASA finds domestic industries emit more pollutants
By Kim Se-jeong
Fifty-two percent of fine dust posing a growing health threat to Koreans is generated within the country, not from abroad, according to the preliminary results of joint research by the Korean government and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced Tuesday.
Of the remaining 48 percent, 34 percent came from China, 9 percent from North Korea and 5 percent from other places, said the report.
Fine dust, or Particulate Matter 2.5, is so small that it can directly enter lung tissue.
There has been debate on where the fine dust comes from. The results are expected to silence those who blamed China the most for Korea’s bad air quality. Some people even filed a compensation suit against the Chinese government earlier this year.
The joint research was conducted between May 2 and June 12 last year. A special jet from NASA equipped with specialized monitoring equipments flew over the Korean peninsula collecting data on pollutant levels; in addition ground-level monitoring, satellite observations and computer modeling were used to get a fuller picture.
“Local emissions play a significant role and are often sufficient to create air quality violations,” according to the report.
But it said, “transboundary pollution must be considered as an exacerbating factor.”
Vehicles, coal-fired power plants and factories on the West Coast are blamed as major sources of pollutants.
The result also identified two major local sources of pollutants and warned nearby residents of the public health danger.
One is the Taean coal-fired power plant on the coast in South Chungcheong Province which is a major source of nitrogen compounds and sulfur dioxide which have chain chemical reactions in the air generating more fine dust and ozone.
Another is the Daesan Petrochemical Complex located in Seosan, South Chungcheong Province, a major source of benzene and 1,3-butadiene, both cancer-causing chemicals.
“The abundance of toxic compounds near chemical facilities raises an important concern for their potential health impact on workers and local residents.”
The team also said Korea’s ozone level was high for a “long period of time” during the one month period, exceeding the Korean air pollution standard. It didn’t specify for how many days exactly.
The results stressed that it was critical to curb emissions from industries on the West Coast because the secondary air pollutants from chain reactions are abundant.
Prof. Kim Dong-sool of the Environmental Science and Engineering Department at Kyung Hee University hailed the study as a good example of conducting quality preliminary testing. “The joint research enabled the Korean authorities to identify fine aerosol, secondary air pollutants including ozone and their generation mechanism.”
However, he added: “I worry that the study results will dictate the government’s future air pollution policies. That shouldn’t happen because it was a one-time project done over one month. Korea needs its own monitoring infrastructure that will make long-term and comprehensive monitoring and analysis possible. And only with that, can reasonable policies be formulated.”
Greenpeace Korea also gave credits to Tuesday's result. "We find it meaningful in that the report stressed the importance of managing pollutant sources in the West Coast."