President Moon calls for joint action with China to reduce fine dust

SEOUL, Mar 6, 2019, Yonhap. South Korean President Moon Jae-in ordered his government Wednesday to work together with China to fight fine dust pollution, his office Cheong Wa Dae said, reported the Yonhap.

South Korea has suffered from the worst particulate matter pollution this week with a large portion of the fine dust believed to be blown from China.

The president told the government to discuss dust-reducing measures at the same time with China to enhance the effectiveness of the countries’ steps, which are currently taken separately.

He asked the government to look into the possibility of jointly creating artificial rain with China over waters between the two countries, though Seoul’s recent experiment was a failure.

“China claims our dust flies to China’s Shanghai region, so making artificial rain over the Yellow Sea would help the Chinese side as well,” Moon said, according to Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom.

President Moon also called for the country’s own measures to reduce fine dust that will include the permanent shutdown of aged power plants that use fossil fuel, the spokesman said.

“Focus all our capacity by creating a supplementary budget if necessary to reduce fine dust,” he was quoted as saying.