Air quality in 'bad' range across Korea as fine dust, wildfire smoke reach the west

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Air quality in 'bad' range across Korea as fine dust, wildfire smoke reach the west

Published: 24 Mar. 2025, 17:47

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

A section of road in Uiseong County, North Gyeongsang, remains closed on Monday, the third day wildfires have raged in the area. [YONHAP]

Air quality across Korea worsened Monday due to a combination of fine dust, yellow dust and smoke from ongoing wildfires.

Emergency fine dust reduction measures were set off at 6 a.m. on Monday in the greater Seoul area, South Chungcheong, Gwangju and North Jeolla, where pollutant levels remained high throughout the day.

Fine dust levels in the capital region stayed at the “bad” level on Monday in capital area, according to the National Institute of Environmental Research’s Air Quality Forecasting Center.

As of 2 p.m., the concentration of ultrafine dust, which refers to PM 2.5, or particles smaller than 2.5 micrometers in diameter, ranged between 36 and 75 micrograms per cubic meter in Seoul, Gyeonggi, Incheon and Sejong.

Fine dust levels, referred to as PM10, also remained in the “bad” range in Seoul, Gyeonggi, Gangwon and North Jeolla, between 81 and 150 micrograms.

Satellite imagery showed dense plumes of yellow dust over China’s Shandong Province and the Yellow Sea, marked in yellow and red.

The dust, originating near the Gobi Desert and Inner Mongolia, reached the airspace above Korea’s western coast. It remains in the upper atmosphere but may descend into lower layers depending on air flow between Monday and Tuesday.

Gong Sang-min, a meteorological analyst at the Korea Meteorological Administration, said the dust is concentrated over the Yellow Sea and south of Shandong Province but has not yet descended into Korea’s lower atmosphere.

“We are analyzing whether strong inflow is likely, depending on atmospheric conditions,” he said.

In North Gyeongsang, where large wildfires continue to burn, air quality worsened in the northeast.

Andong and Yeongyang County, located near Uiseong County — where firefighters have battled blazes for a third consecutive day — recorded dust concentrations above standard levels.

As of Monday afternoon, Andong posted PM2.5 levels of 65 micrograms and PM10 levels of 121 micrograms.

Earlier in the day, those figures exceeded 76 micrograms and 151 micrograms, respectively, reaching the “very bad” category.

“Southwesterly winds are spreading pollutants from the wildfire toward northeastern areas of Uiseong,” said Lee Jae-beom, head of the Air Quality Forecasting Center.

Strong winds also helped disperse dust in other regions.

In the rest of the Gyeongsang area, air quality improved to “moderate” or “good” levels by the afternoon as the fine dust was pushed eastward over the East Sea. Wind speeds in North Gyeongsang ranged from 5 to 12 meters per second (11 to 27 miles per hour) as of 2 p.m.

Lee said upper atmosphere air outside the capital area remains relatively clean, which helped improve air quality that was poor earlier in the day. He added that the possibility of a secondary inflow of fine dust from the west is still under review.

Strong southwesterly winds are expected to continue Tuesday, with gusts reaching up to 10 meters per second in western regions and 3 to 6 meters per second in Gyeongsang.

Translated using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.

BY JEONG EUN-HYE [[email protected]]