When the wind blows [in Korea], China’s pollution takes its toll

March 4, 2007 by Walter Schneider.

The Hankyoreh, Mar. 2, 2007

If air current comes in from China, sulfur dioxide levels rise as much as 28-fold

A study found that when an air current blows into Korea from China, levels of sulfur found in the air jump as much as 28 times higher than normal.

The air is contaminated by factories in China, the study said.

The National Institute of Environmental Research, which conducted the study, said on March 1 that the maximum concentration of sulfur dioxide in the Korean peninsula’s air stood at 8.01 parts per billion (ppb) when the air was strongly affected by an air current from China’s middle and southern regions, the site of many manufacturing and industrial plants. The average concentration of sulfur in South Korea’s air when the air current is blowing into the peninsula is 2.25 ppb. In contrast, when the Korean peninsula is not affected by this air current, the concentration of sulfur in the air ranges from 0.29 ppb to 0.36 ppb. (Full Story)

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