Air quality in Korea worsened due to fine dust, yellow dust and wildfire smoke.
Yellow dust originating from China and Mongolia engulfed Korea on Wednesday, leading to a spike in fine dust concentration levels.
Fine dust blankets Incheon New Port on Wednesday, when fine dust levels reached 'bad' across the greater Seoul area.
Fine dust blankets central Seoul on Thursday morning, with the hourly average concentration of dust falling within the “bad” level.
Yellow dust descended on Korea on Thursday and was expected to linger through Friday, pushing fine dust levels up in the Seoul metropolitan area and some southern regions.
Fine dust levels will remain high for at least a couple of more days, the KMA said, adding that the pollutants were flying in from China and remaining above Korea due to weak winds.
Grade 4 diesel vehicles, the second-lowest in the country's five-tier emissions standard, will be banned from Seoul’s central areas starting 2025.
The National Council on Climate and Air Quality (NCCA) urged Korea to ban domestic sales of diesel vehicles from as early as 2035 and to enable coal-free power generation by 2045 as a part of long-term public policy proposals Monday.
Korea JoongAng Daily Sitemap
