It's the air, stupid!

By Park Moo-jong

Mexico City, home to 20 million people, is notorious for air pollution. In a somewhat exaggerated expression, even birds would drop dead from the sky. In 1992, the city earned the dishonor of topping the list of the world's most polluted cities.

In 1990, I visited the capital city of the Central American country for a news coverage with a kind of worry about the air pollution there. I was advised to walk slowly and bring an oxygen can with me always, even at the hotel bed, because of the lack of oxygen there.

I've heard the city still ranks in the top 10 in terms of pollution, even if its air quality has improved a little thanks to the city's aggressive legislation and heightened awareness of a problem that "kills an estimated 7 million people worldwide every year" according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Nearly 30 years later, I am experiencing a similar situation here in Seoul, the capital of the Republic of Korea.

Like all Korean people, I have suffered from the worst-ever choking air pollution this week in Seoul, which, I learned belatedly, places 12th regarding fine dust pollution among cities in 224 countries.

The ultrafine dust attack is a national disaster enveloping the whole country, with the Moon Jae-in government and the local autonomous bodies remaining virtually helpless, taking only expedient measures ― warning alerts and advising people to wear a mask, keep kids indoors and halt outdoor activities.

One of the campaign pledges of President Moon is spotlighted anew. He promised he would reduce fine dust emissions by 30 percent during his five-year term, if elected. Over the past 20 months after he took office, the situation has become aggravated as shown by this week's worst-ever pollution.

It is no wonder that many people ask where the person who promised to make a clean Republic of Korea has gone.

Let's look into the emergency measures taken by the government: Coal- and oil-fired power plants reduced their output to 80 percent of normal operations; old diesel cars registered in Seoul before 2005 were banned; about 430 parking lots at public organizations were closed; citizens were discouraged from driving into the city; and half of government vehicles were banned from the roads.

Yet, questions still remain over the effectiveness of these "easy" emergency measures against vehicle emissions. They may be a little helpful. But related authorities should think first why there is so much car exhaust contributing to the dirty air.

The reason is quite simple: daylong bumper-to-bumper congestion across major cities causes bad fuel efficiency. The increasing idling of engines in traffic jams also helps increase gas emissions.

It's bumper-to-bumper and stop-and-go for cars on every street in Seoul where buses enjoy speed in bus-only lanes. Jongno streets and the Seoul-Busan expressway starting from the southern side of Hannam Bridge are typical cases. It is a frequent scene everywhere for the central bus lanes to be empty while other lanes have heavy traffic. There is no reason why the air should become dirty due to fumes the cars emit, crawling as slowly as a snail.

Over the past years, we have largely perceived a huge portion of fine dust to come from industrial sites in China, blaming the neighboring country for the air pollution on the peninsula. Indeed, dust storms in spring, generated in China's northwestern deserts, have been a top public nuisance.

However, a spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Ecology and Environment claimed last month that the air quality in China had improved over the years through regulatory measures, while that of Korea has worsened in the same period.

Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon Monday countered Beijing's claims that China has nothing to do with fine dust over the Korean Peninsula.

Yet, we remember that the Chinese government took almost every measure to hold the 2008 Beijing Olympics in clean air by banning the operation of vehicles in the city center and moving many smokestack factories out of the city.

The Summer Games were successfully held in clean air and since then China, which had been plagued by notorious air pollution, has improved its air quality and now has only five cities in the world's top 30 worst cities for air quality.

Of course, it is necessary for Seoul to cooperate with Beijing to effectively battle dust particles through diplomatic channels. But an extraordinary and bold decision is urgent to reduce domestic vehicle emissions and to reconsider the reckless and unilateral policy to phase out nuclear power that does not produce greenhouse gas.

The almost sole solution is to restrict the operation of vehicles, while encouraging citizens to use public transit means like subways and buses, instead.

We should take a lesson from the success of the compulsory odd-even operation of vehicles according to the plate number in the 1988 Seoul Olympics, 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games.

To compensate the mandatory car operation every other day, the government has only to lower the vehicle tax rates for car owners, for instance. The government is raking in taxes these days, more than enough.

The weather office says fine dust will disappear when it turns cold. It is a sad thing only to wait for the sharp drop of the temperature to beat fine dust for fine winter days.

Park Moo-jong (emjei29@gmail.com) is a standing adviser of The Korea Times. He served as the president-publisher of the nation's first English daily newspaper from 2004 to 2014 after working as a reporter since 1974.