Seoul air as clean as Jeju for 202 days

Air in Seoul has been as clean as that on the resort island of Jeju for 202 days this year, with the dust level falling to the lowest in about a decade, the Seoul Metropolitan Government said Sunday.

The annual average dust particle concentration in the air was 47 micrograms per cubic meter this year, the lowest since 1995 when the city started to measure the dust level in the air. In 1995, the dust concentration in the air was 78 micrograms.

The number of days as clean as in Jeju, that is 45 micrograms or below, increased by nine days this year from 2010.

“Dust particles have been quickly reduced, and the city will step up efforts to keep up its air quality on the level of Jeju Island and match that of major global cities such as Tokyo and Paris,” said Jeong Yeon-chan, director of clean environment division.

Visibility in Seoul has also improved along with the air quality as the number of days with more than 20 kilometer visibility increased to 196 days this year, up by 56 days from last year.

When visibility tops 20 kilometers, the northern mountains on the outskirts of the capital can be seen with the naked eye from the top of Mount Namsan at the center of the city.

More than half of the citizens also think the air quality has improved, with 55 percent saying it is better than before, according to a poll of 1,161 citizens in November.

The city prioritized a clean air policy to improve the city’s atmospheric quality to that of Jeju Island, running an air quality monitoring system, encouraging the adoption of natural gas vehicles and controlling access to public facilities by private cars once every 10 days.

By Lee Woo-young (wylee@heraldcorp.com)