“Social Disaster”: South Korea passes bills to fight against air pollution

South Korea on Wednesday ramped up efforts after record levels of fine dust blanketed most of the country, passing a set of bills that designate the problem a ‘social disaster’ and which could unlock emergency funds to tackle the issue.

Pollution in Asia’s fourth-largest economy has been driven up by factors including coal-fired power generation and high vehicle emissions, sparking widespread concern among the public and weighing on President Moon Jae-in’s approval ratings.

Designating the issue a ‘disaster’ allows government officials access to use parts of its US$2.65bn emergency reserve funds to help respond to any damage or emergency caused by polluted air.

Other bills that were passed included mandating that every school classroom should have an air purifier and removing a limit on sales of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) vehicles, which typically produce fewer emissions than gasoline and diesel.

The latest bills follow previous steps to battle pollution such as capping operations at coal-fired power plants.

The crisis has also created friction with China, which South Korean public health experts say is responsible for between 50% and 70% of fine dust pollution in the Seoul area, home to almost half the country’s population. Experts say the particles, from Chinese deserts and factories, are carried to the Korean peninsula by prevailing westerly winds.

Chinese officials, however, rejected the claims and urged South Korea to first determine if its own factories, power plants, and vehicles were to blame.

South Korea’s air quality was the worst among its peers in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) as of 2017, according to data from the group. Its average annual exposure to fine particulate matter (PM) of less than 2.5 micrometres was 25.1 micrograms per cubic meter, slightly more than double the OECD average of 12.5.

The World Health Organization recommends that air quality standard should be no more than 10 micrograms in terms of PM 2.5 levels.