Chinese fine dust rains down on western South Korea
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Seoul is shrouded in fine dust in this view from South Korea’s tallest building, the Jamsil Lotte Tower in Songpa-gu, Jamsil-dong, on Wednesday afternoon. Most fine dust clouds, especially during winter, drift in from China, which generates the world’s largest amount of electricity from burning coal. / Yonhap
By Ko Dong-hwan
The Wednesday morning sky over South Korea’s western regions was thick with fine dust clouds that drifted overnight from northern China.
The tiny particles from a plateau in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region were carried by the northwestern current along a trough to Korea, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration and the environment ministry’s National Institute of Environmental Research.
The dust storm sent particle concentrations soaring, especially in South Chungcheong Province. The level at Nanjido Village in Dangjin was the day’s worst with PM10 (particulate matter of 10 micrograms or lighter) at 183 micrograms per cubic meter at 7 a.m. The level is described as “very bad” (150 micrograms per cubic meter or higher) on the Korean air-quality index.
PM10 readings from Seoul (87), Daegu (114), Incheon (91), Daejeon (86), Gyeonggi Province (95), North Chungcheong Province (81) and South Gyeongsang Province (84) reached the “bad” level (81-150).
The environmental research institute said Seoul, the Chungcheong provinces and Gangwon Province will for most of the day experience “bad” air pollution. The rest of the nation would be “normal” (31-80) but some regions could see the level reach “very bad.”
Air quality has been bad in South Korea in winter due to pollution from household heating in the country and China.
China, which is the world’s biggest generator of coal-derived electricity, produces large volumes of air pollutants that frequently drift to Korea.