Korea, China, Japan to jointly study fine pollutants

South Korea, China and Japan have agreed to start joint research on ultrafine pollutants as part of a broad scientific cooperation to fight environmental problems.

The chiefs of those three countries’ state-run environmental scientific institutes also agreed to add environmental disasters to the list of their ongoing joint projects, including climate change, yellow dust, harmful chemicals and water pollution.

The 10th annual meeting was held in Nanjing, China, from Tuesday to Friday, with the participation of Korea’s National Institute of Environment Research, the National Institute for Environmental Studies of Japan, and the Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences.

The National Institute of Environment Research will lead the study on airborne dust particulates, whose concentration has recently reached dangerous levels in China and neighboring countries including Korea.

High levels of the particles can cause health problems in the respiratory system and other parts of body. In January, Beijing’s concentrations of PM2.5 hit 993 micrograms per cubic meter, almost 40 times higher than the daily safe level of 25 micrograms recommended by the World Health Organization.

The next meeting will be held in Japan next November.

By Suk Gee-hyun (monicasuk@heraldcorp.com)