The day after I arrived in Korea for my annual spring visit, I woke up to headlines saying that the air in Seoul was the worst in the world. After a few days improvement, it was back near the top.

Seoul gets its fair share of yellow dust emanating from the Gobi Desert in China and Mongolia every spring. The dust storms sweep in from China and flow toward Japan, losing strength on the way. I first experienced yellow dust in 1984 and remember it being different from the pollution that hangs over Seoul now. In the 1980s, the dusty days were punctuated by clear days and strong sun. The dust ended with the summer rains and fall days were crisp and clear. Charcoal briquettes caused pollution in the winter, but it didn’t seem as bad as today.

According to a 2016 article by Don Mosteller, a research fellow at Yale University, pollution in Korea is a serious problem. He stated that in 2013, more than 20,000 premature deaths were blamed on the country’s foul air. On a typical day, 25 million South Koreans inhale an unsafe amount of microscopic particles of various sizes (PM2.5, PM10 and others).

The article also stated that South Korea ranked 103 out of 180 on the EPI’s new Environmental Risk Exposure measure, which assesses the mortality burden associated with poor air and water quality. The country’s poor air quality risk factor was disproportionately responsible for its overall low performance on this indicator. EPI refers to the Environmental Performance Index developed by Yale University and Columbia University.

The severity of the situation is clear, but the solution remains elusive. Because yellow dust storms sweep into Korea from China, that country has received the most blame for the pollution. Recent debates have focused on domestic sources, but, as Mosteller noted, the process of “source apportionment” (assigning pollution origination) is, however, an extraordinarily complex and evolving science that relies on sophisticated chemistry, remote sensing, statistics and modelling.

To develop an effective policy, Korea should focus first on what it can control more easily: domestic pollution. According to Mosteller, from 2002 to 2012, the fossil fuel share of South Korea’s electricity generation (measured in terms of final energy) increased from 51 percent to 64 percent, and almost all of it came from coal and liquefied natural gas.

Fossil-fuel -- especially coal-burning -- electric power plants are the worst polluters.

Reducing the amount of electricity generated from fossil-fuel plants is the most effective way to reduce pollution. Nuclear energy is one answer, but Korea already has difficulty storing nuclear waste. Building nuclear power plants is expensive and time consuming. Several earthquakes in 2016 raised fears about the security of existing nuclear power plants.

Instead, shifting toward renewable energy is a better approach. Making a concerted effort to meet strict targets for renewable energy production would stimulate the diffusion of related technologies, which would help make Korea more competitive in the field. Korea has long been a leader in shipbuilding, so there is no reason why it cannot be a leader in wind turbine or solar panel production.

Reducing consumption while shifting toward renewable energy would help reduce fossil-fuel dependency faster. Japan drastically reduced electricity consumption after the Fukushima earthquake in 2011, and many of the conservation measures have since become part of everyday life. Korea can look to Japan for practical ideas about how to reduce electricity.

Encouraging people to drive less would also help reduce pollution. Even though Seoul has an extensive and highly regarded public transportation system, many people prefer to drive. One of the persuasive arguments developers use to entice people to agree to redevelopment in older urban areas is the promise of a parking space to go with a new apartment. Large buildings are also required to provide parking spaces.

Korea could also make great effort to become competitive in the hybrid and electric car markets. Such an effort could be tied to the effort to develop renewable energy. Restricting diesel vehicles would also help.

As elsewhere, a national push to reduce pollution through renewable energy would require sustained investment and a willingness to tackle entrenched interests. With pollution posing a health hazard to an increasing number of people, the issue is now truly an issue of life or death, so political leaders should be able to rally public support for investing in such a push.

And what of China? It has already begun to deal with an even more serious pollution problem. Korea should strengthen cooperation with China to clean up the air, but that effort is only credible if Korea does more to reduce harmful emissions at home.


By Robert J. Fouser

Robert J. Fouser, a former associate professor of Korean language education at Seoul National University, writes on Korea from Pawtucket, Rhode Island. He can be reached at robertjfouser@gmail.com. -- Ed.