Some 100 young Korean volunteers participated in a project to help transform the world’s ninth-largest desert in China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region into green land, as well as to exchange views regarding environmental problems with Chinese youths, said the Korea Foundation, a nonprofit public diplomacy organization, which hosted the event.

During the 2019 Korea-China Green Corps project, held from Wednesday to Tuesday, the participants planted about 800 trees in the Kubuqi Desert in Inner Mongolia. 

Located about 800 kilometers west of Beijing, the desert is a major source of springtime yellow dust.

“Environmental issues are increasingly affecting the lives of our people while social awareness that the environment is directly linked to health and life is spreading,” Korea Foundation President Lee Si-hyung said in a press release.

His remarks came as Korea and China have been holding a series of talks to tackle the fine dust problem amid mounting concerns over increasing levels of fine and ultrafine dust here, believed to originate mostly from China.

“As cooperation between Korea and China should be further strengthened in improving fine dust, the activities of the Korea-China Green Volunteer (program) will be a good opportunity to find a solution to the importance of the environment,” he said.

Former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who was recently named chief of Korea’s pan-national body on fine dust air pollution, will also join the campaign.

On Friday, participants from Korea and China held a discussion on the legitimacy of the destruction of primeval forests for events such as the Olympics. The program is aimed at enlightening the young generation on the importance of resolving environmental issues between stakeholders through dialogue, the organization said.

By Park Han-na (hnpark@heraldcorp.com)