By Kim Se-jeong
The Seoul Metropolitan Government said Thursday it will spend 62 billion won this year to take 20,000 obsolete diesel-powered vehicles off the roads to fight air pollution in the capital.
According to the city government, the money will also be used to install diesel particulate filters on more than 5,000 other diesel vehicles registered in the city.
Drivers who own vehicles produced earlier than Dec. 31, 2005, can receive a subsidy if they wish to trade them in.
According to city estimates, Seoul has almost 1.04 million aging cars and van.
The measure is part of the city government’s efforts to curb air pollution, especially caused by particulate matter (PM) in the PM2.5 to PM10 range.
Experts said PM2.5 ― 2.5 nanometers in diameter ― particles are so small they can reach the lungs and enter the bloodstream causing various deadly health problems.
Particulates travel from deserts and coasts of China, but a lot is produced on the peninsula as a result of chemical reactions involving nitrous and sulfur oxides.
Suburban Seoul and the west coast, with lots of factories and power plants, are to blame for causing pollutants, as well as severe car traffic.
According to the city, the average concentration of PM 2.5 in Seoul was at 26 micrograms per cubic meter in 2016, higher than the national permissible standard. It was worse than the previous year which saw an average of 23 micrograms. Fine dust concentrations are particularly high in spring when yellow dust hits Korea and during winter when many Chinese burn coal and wood for heating.
In addition to phasing out diesel vehicles, the city government said it will bolster monitoring of older vehicles this year. The city said it will do this by adding more road surveillance cameras, and expanding monitoring areas to Incheon and Gyeonggi Province. However, skeptics view these measures as ineffective.
The city has been promoting electric cars and motorcycles and will continue its subsidy programs this year. The subsidy covers half of vehicle costs. The government will also continue to finance the city’s homeowners in replacing boilers with less polluting ones.
The capital’s air pollution has received special attention. In 2003, the National Assembly passed a special law governing the improvement of air quality in Seoul.
Under this law, the government will shut down all aging coal-powered power plants along the west coast by 2020.