Dust storms swirl across the country

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Dust storms swirl across the country

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Seoul residents wear masks yesterday in Yeouido as a severe yellow dust storm blanketed the nation. By Kim Sang-seon

Yellow dust storm warnings were issued for all parts of the nation yesterday for the first time, the Korea Meteorological Administration said. The warning system was introduced in 2002.
The dusty winds, originating from the Gobi Desert of Mongolia and the Inner Mongolian region of China, covered the entire Korean Peninsula yesterday. At 3 a.m., Baeryong Island in the Yellow Sea saw 1,354 micrograms of dust per cubic meter. The observatory on Mount Gwanak in Seoul recorded 1,233 micrograms at noon. In Daegwallyeong, Gangwon province on the East Coast, the figure was 1,911 micrograms at 3 p.m.
Visibility was three kilometers in Seoul, 1.5 kilometers in Busan and one kilometer in Ulsan. Eight flights scheduled to land in Daegu were canceled, and the Daegu International Airport authority said it doesn’t know when normal operations will resume.
People across the peninsula had to cancel outdoor activities. At the cherry blossom festival in Jinhae, South Gyeongsang province, visitors wore masks and scarves to cover their faces. “Traffic was terrible because everyone stayed inside their cars and looked at the flowers from the windows,” complained Park Gyun-sik, a 57-year-old Masan resident from inside his car.
Children’s Grand Park in Seoul had only 60,000 visitors yesterday, down 40 percent from the previous Sunday. Grand Park in Gwacheon said 20,000 people came to its amusement park and zoo, down 50 percent.
Four pro-baseball games around the nation were canceled, and yesterday the Education Ministry ordered public schools to adjust class schedules or shut down today if necessary. The Seoul city government said it would wash the streets.
The dust also meant losses for industries, though no immediate estimate was given. Factories producing semiconductors, liquid crystal displays and plasma display panels were alarmed. “As soon as we were informed of the dust storm warning, we changed the filters in the air supply ducts for all clean rooms,” an official with Samsung Electronics said. “We doubled the 15-second air shower period before entering clean rooms. We’ve been battling against the yellow dust all weekend.”
Shipbuilders had to postpone outdoor painting, and automakers said they will have to wash cars waiting to be shipped at docks before exporting them. Remembering the 200 canceled flights during the 2002 storms, airlines were concerned about additional maintenance and cleaning costs.
South Korea’s weather body said in the 1980s, Korea saw yellow dust on average 3.9 days annually, but that has increased to 12.4 days since 2002. The agency said Seoul has suffered from the yellow dust storms for six days already this year.


By Kang Chan-soo JoongAng Ilbo/ Ser Myo-ja Staff Writer [myoja@joongang.co.kr]
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