Korea, China to establish early warning system for fine dust

China is regarded as a source of the growing fine dust problem in Korea. / Yonhap

By Kim Jae-heun

Korea and China have agreed to establish a joint early warning system for fine dust as part of cooperation on the ever-worsening air pollution problem, the environment ministry said Thursday.

“The government has told China about its concern over disastrous levels of highly concentrated fine dust here,” Yoo Je-chul, a senior ministry official, said at a press briefing.

“The air quality in major areas in China has improved 40 percent since 2013 and we stressed the importance of cooperation to reduce fine dust both here and there.”

The joint early warning system will allow the government to prepare for fine dust approaching the peninsula and issue alerts for affected areas. Beijing has agreed to provide its forecast data in real-time.

“We will receive the newest long- and short-term forecast information from China and compare it with our own to improve the accuracy of forecasting air pollution here. This will allow us to issue an earlier warning on fine dust and smog two to three days in advance,” Yoo said.

The governments also agreed to include Tangshan and Shenyang in a joint research project to study the cause of air pollution occurring in China based on new aerial and satellite data as well as ground observation. Until now, the project, which began in May 2017, has focused on Beijing, Baoding, Qingdao and Dalian,.

However, Yoo acknowledged that there was still much to be done as the governments' opinions still differ regarding the source of the growing levels of fine dust on the peninsula.

In August 2017, Korea, China and Japan agreed to release a report on joint research on long-range transport pollution (LTP) in the atmosphere last year. However, China suddenly opposed publishing the report saying a further review was necessary.

The ministry official said publication is likely to be in this November.

More specific plans on work to reduce air pollution in Korea and China will be discussed next month and details will be announced during a minister-level meeting in the second half of the year.

Recently, China has requested the government to share its knowhow and experience in reducing air pollution, the ministry noted.

“China said such help can effectively reduce the fine dust that comes from the continent to Korea faster,” an environment ministry official said.

Despite the improvement of air quality in China, average ultrafine dust in Beijing was measured at 51 micrograms per cubic meter last year, twice the average level of that in Korea.