Moon calls for cooperation with China on dust

President Moon Jae-in on Tuesday called for strong efforts to reduce air pollution and increased cooperation with China, which is widely considered a major source of air pollutants here.

“The people had to suffer greatly last week due to an unprecedented number of days of dense fine dust. I feel truly ashamed because we are unable to clearly address the issue,” the president said in a weekly Cabinet meeting held at the Blue House.

“Reducing fine dust is one of the national policy objectives our government has named in efforts to protect the people’s right to health. If we are to keep that promise, we must handle the fine dust issue as if we are dealing with a disaster, such as severe cold or scorching heat,” the president added, according to Blue House pool reports.

The president stressed the need for “creative” ways to resolve the issue. They may include reducing the number of aged diesel cars while expanding the number of clean energy vehicles, as well as replacing old household heaters with new environmentally friendly ones, he noted.

“There is also a need to further develop technologies for artificial rain, air purification and dust collectors,” the president said.

Moon also stressed the need to increase the country’s cooperation with China to help reduce fine-dust particles and also enable early warning systems.

“I am also well-aware of the fact that our people have great concerns about fine dust coming from China. We need to strengthen our cooperation to greatly reduce fine dust because China too is suffering from the same problem,” he said. “I also ask you to make diplomatic efforts for the joint establishment of an early warning system for fine dust.”

Yonhap