South Korea, China to seek joint fine dust warning system
Particulate matters violated air quality above a section of Seoul on Jan. 23, 2019. Yonhap
South Korea and China have agreed to set up a joint early warning system related to fine dust, Seoul's authorities said Thursday amid desperate efforts here to counter air pollution.
The neighboring countries had a series of working-level talks on environmental issues earlier this week and agreed to expand bilateral partnerships against fine dust.
China is regarded as a source of the growing fine dust problem in South Korea, especially in winter and spring, given the direction of seasonal winds.
South Korea proposed the exchange of information on air quality and relevant forecast technology, along with a joint study on soil pollution in mined areas.
Seoul also wants to work together with Beijing for the research of environmental policies for sustainable development.
Chief of the living environment policy office under the Ministry of Environment explains this year's renewed policies regarding particulate matters and how to prevent them at the ministry's office at Sejong Government Complex, Jan. 22. Yonhap
The two sides agreed to launch the three projects, according to the foreign and environmental ministries.
They struck a deal on the early warning system and agreed to report a concrete action plan to the trilateral talks among the environmental ministers of South Korea, China and Japan in the latter half of this year.
In this week's sessions, South Korea stressed the need for constant, combined efforts to tackle the environmental issue, pointing out that South Korean people are increasingly concerned about the recent spread of ultra-fine dust, which is tantamount to a "disaster," the ministries said.
China requested bilateral cooperation, based on patience, to deal with the problem, which requires a long-term response, saying China has improved air quality by more than 40 percent in major areas through domestic policies since 2013, they added. (Yonhap)