SEOUL, Nov 20 (NNN-YONHAP) — Around 32 per cent of ultrafine dust in South Korea can be attributed to China, a piece of joint research by South Korea, China and Japan showed Wednesday, as fine dust pollution continues to be a regional environmental headache.
“The self-contributions in China, South Korea and Japan are 91.0 per cent, 51.2 per cent, and 55.4 per cent, respectively. … China’s contribution to (ultrafine dust in) major cities in Korea is 32.1 per cent, and that to major cities in Japan is 24.6 per cent,” Yonhap news agency reported, citing the summary of the joint study posted on the website of South Korea’s National Institute of Environmental Research.
This indicates that around 51.2 per cent of the country’s ultrafine dust comes from domestic factors, while 32.1 percent is linked to China.
The report showed that South Korea was the cause of 8.2 per cent of the ultrafine dust in major Japanese cities and 1.9 per cent in large Chinese cities.
The findings are part of the Joint Research Project for Long-range Transboundary Air Pollutants in Northeast Asia, a regional project the three countries launched in 1996 to “study the state of air quality, the influence of neighbouring countries and the policy-making of each country to improve air quality.”
The latest report is based on the fourth stage of the study, undertaken between 2013 and 2017, focusing on the contribution rates of the three countries regarding particulate matter (PM) 2.5 levels of ultrafine dust, or the amount of particles smaller than 2.5 micrometers in diameter.
Researchers studied figures from nine monitoring sites in the three countries — South Korea’s Baengnyeong, Ganghwa, Taean and Gosan, China’s Dalian, Yantai and Xiamen and Japan’s Rishiri and Oki — according to the report.
On a positive note, researchers noted that the annual average concentrations of air pollutants, including fine dust and ultrafine dust, have declined at the monitoring sites.
They stressed, however, that further efforts to cut emissions are important in improving air quality.
Fine dust is a potential cause of respiratory diseases and cancer. It is more likely to penetrate deeper into the lungs, while ultrafine particles can be absorbed directly into the bloodstream, posing serious health risks.
— NNN-YONHAP
