Rain Project: South Korea and China for cleaner air
Due to increasing levels of air pollution caused by rising dust levels, South Korean President Moon Jae-In proposed to China a project using artificial rain to clean the air in Seoul.
Experts have linked Korea’s air pollution to China’s industrial activities and emissions from South Korean cars. The dust concentration level as of 4 p.m. Wednesday was at 136 micrograms per cubic meter in Seoul, hitting an all-time high, according to the National Institute of Environmental Research. Dust levels above 75 micrograms per cubic meter are classified as “very bad”.
The floor leader of the conservative Liberty Korea Party strongly urged Moon to call this a national disaster. At an emergency meeting ruling and opposing parties agreed for a swift bill to pass to deal with the air pollution problem.
The solution to the matter might be to create artificial rain between the borders of the countries, according to Moon. He acknowledged China being “much more advanced” in rain-making technologies than South Korea and hopes to mitigate dust pollution by creating rain over the bodies of water as a mean to stop dust from traveling between the countries. In January, South Korea’s attempt to create artificial rain failed involving an aircraft releasing chemicals into a cloud over the sea.
“China has claimed that South Korea’s dust flies toward Shanghai, so creating artificial rain over the Yellow Sea would help the Chinese side too,” Kim quoted Moon during the emergency meeting. Moreover, a joint system for issuing pollution alerts was proposed by Moon. Citizens of South Korea are regularly alarmed via radio or more casually their mobile phone of heavy air pollution due to high dust levels. While commuting during heavy air pollution most people are urged to wear masks and use air purifiers in offices. Moon has even instructed to create an extra budget if necessary to install sufficient air purifiers in schools.
On Wednesday Moon has also urged for a quicker retirement of old coal-burning power plants to tackle dust pollution in the capital, spokesman Kim Eui-Kyeom said. The power plants have been in operation for more than 30 years and significantly add to the air pollution problem.
Last year, in a meeting with top Chinese diplomat Yang Jiechi, Moon named China to be part of the reason for South Korea’s pollution problem and called for Beijing’s cooperation to improve the air quality.
