Earlier this month, the South Korean government released a set of fine dust countermeasures amid growing public anxiety over the peninsula’s grey skies.

Considering neighboring countries’ climate conditions and the upcoming monsoon season, the government admitted that the current fine dust problem in Korea is “difficult to be resolved within a short period of time.”

Regardless, the government said it would improve the air quality through several action plans. 

It set a goal to reach the air quality level equivalent to that of European countries in 10 years. The government said that it aims to see fine dust concentration of 18 micrograms per cubic meter of air by 2026 from the current level of 23 micrograms per cubic meter. 

The main part of the four action plans is to tackle the sources of fine dust that include business sites that deal with construction waste or that use solid fuel such as wood. They also include construction machineries, power plants and dust from construction fields or businesses. 

But the measures regarding reducing emissions from diesel cars have prompted criticism. The measure against diesel cars came in the heels of the emission rigging scandal of Volkswagen’s diesel vehicles, thus drawing more public attention.

The government said that emissions from diesel engine cars are the main culprit of locally produced fine dust. Adding that worn-out diesel cars running in the country are the first thing that should be avoided, it said that it would gradually cut down the advantages given to diesel car owners.

The decision came after President Park Geun-hye’s comments that “automobiles are the key cause of fine dust, which underlines the need for environmentally friendly cars,” during a Cabinet meeting on May 10.

In that vein, the Environment Ministry proposed last month a plan during a ministerial meeting to increase the price of diesel. The ministry said “by raising the (diesel) price to the similar level of gasoline, the number of diesel cars running in the city will naturally go down and become similar to cars powered by gasoline.” A liter of diesel is sold at 1,230 won ($1.06) as of June 23, about 85 percent of the price of gasoline.

As soon as the price hike plan was revealed, the government was criticized for being self-contradictory as there had been a lack of explanation for the connection between the rising level of fine dust and the use of diesel cars. 

In 2009, the government had designated diesel cars as eco-friendly cars for its good fuel efficiency. In order to boost the sales of diesel cars, the government also began exempting at least 100,000 won of environmental improvement charges for those who drove diesel cars, along with a discount advantage at public parking lots. As a result, the number of diesel car purchasers skyrocketed, accounting for half of the newly registered vehicles in 2015.

The oil refining industry opposed the abrupt turn of policy, saying it was “too rushed” to discuss the price hike for diesel. Some questioned why the government had categorized diesel cars as eco-friendly cars from the beginning if it had contributed to worsening air quality. 

“We need to watch the government’s diesel price hike plan further as the ministries have different positions ... while we export half of our diesels. If the price is increased, it would immediately lead to reduced domestic consumption which would eventually lead to a raise in the amount placed for export,” an official from the Korea Petroleum Association said. He said that it would then lead to excessive supplies of diesel in the global market that would lead to a price drop.

Facing vehement protest from car owners and related industries, the plan was also opposed by the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, citing the measure’s “potential increase of burden on ordinary citizens.”

Despite such criticisms, the Environment Ministry said it will start encouraging owners of diesel cars that have been used for at least 11 years to be scrapped. The government will offer subsidies for expenses spent on scrapping such vehicles after applying for the process with the Korea Automobile Environmental Association.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government also promised to replace all its public buses with eco-friendly Compressed Natural Gas buses as soon as possible.


Another one of the government’s action plans is to revamp the current air quality forecast system.

Following developed countries’ rising awareness on the fine dust issue since the late 1980s, South Korea designated fine dust as an air pollutant in 2014, as well as implemented the air quality forecast system run by Korea Environment Corporation under the Environment Ministry.

When the dust particle concentration is between 81 and 150 micrograms per cubic meter, outdoor air quality is forecasted to be “unhealthy for sensitive group.” Above 150 micrograms per cubic meter is warned to be “unhealthy.” The average figure for the past three years was slightly below 49 micrograms per cubic meter, which meets the World Health Organization recommended air quality level of 50 micrograms per cubic meter. 

The ministry had said that accuracy of the fine dust forecast system, which was conducted from August to December in 2015, was at 69.9 percent. 

However, according to the ruling Saenuri Party’s Rep. Joo Young-soon, the Environment Ministry’s data on fine dust forecast conducted from August 2015 to January 2016 in fact showed 33.3 percent of accuracy. The forecast data showed that in metropolitan areas, the ministry’s forecast was just eight times correct out of the 18 days it had predicted the outdoor air pollution was “unhealthy for sensitive groups.”

Joo said that the higher the density of fine dust, the more inaccurate the current forecast system appeared to be.

Experts said the inaccuracy of current forecast system is due to lack of investigation into finding the real factor behind worsening air quality. 

“The current forecast model does not consider the city’s smog phenomenon, which has a very close correlation with the dust particle concentration,” said professor Hong Wook-hee of Semin Environment Research Center.

“Different measurement standards between regions and municipalities is another problem,” added professor Hong. 

The government said it was currently working to set up a more comprehensive forecast system.

“As we have revealed in the fine dust countermeasure plan, launching our own forecast system with accuracy through research, along with experts, is in the process,” said the ministry official. 

The ministry added that it is considering adopting high-tech sensors which can be attached to buses running in the city to gather big data.

The other two actions plan include establishing new electric power industries and promoting environmental cooperation with neighboring countries.

Analysts said it may take longer for South Korea to come up with viable solutions to fight worsening air quality.

“South Korea is currently lacking in trustable measurement data and researches as it has just recently begun to observe the fine dust issue,” said Yoon Sun-chang, the vice-head of The Korean Academy of Science and Technology.

“Nurturing scientists and expanding the workforce to observe the data and establish investigation devices is also very important, along with governmental support,” he added. 

By Kim Da-sol (ddd@heraldcorp.com)