Korean media’yellow dust from China’ hits China’s “natural phenomenon from Mongolia”
2002~20 Origin Analysis, China + Mongolia
The’Northeast Asian environmental community’ needs to be established, such as the fine dust and nuclear power plant issues.
The Seoul sky viewed from Namhansanseong Fortress on the 17th, when the concentration of fine dust in Seoul was at a poor level due to the effects of yellow dust, etc., shows the opposite appearance from the top to the bottom. yunhap news
Fortunately, the forecast that the worst yellow sand would come was missed, but a controversy about the’yellow sand origin’ arose. Korean media ‘Yellow sand from China’Using the expression, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs officially revealed an uncomfortable feeling. Located in the western-western wind belt, where the wind blows from west to east, Korea is inevitably not free from the influence of China in the west. Air pollutants emitted by Chinese chimneys and automobiles, which are the’factory of the world’, are blown into harmful fine dust, and yellow dust originates from the vast deserts of China and Mongolia and flies to the east. In the event of an accident at a nuclear power plant lined up along the east coast of China, lethal radioactive substances are transmitted to Korea through ocean currents and atmosphere. Numerous plastic bottle trash discarded in Korea was found on the shores of Tsushima, Japan through the ocean currents.It is the same reason as to become. Why did the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who know this well, say that the source of this yellow dust was not China? We looked into the controversy over the origin of the yellow sand through experts in environment, climate and diplomacy. Experts said it was reaffirmed in this controversy that the geopolitical reality that the three countries of Korea, China, and Japan are bound by’environmental destiny community’ remains unchanged. It also predicted that’coordination with environmental policies’, which requires mutual trust and cooperation over fine dust, yellow dust, and nuclear power plant issues, will become more important.
China says the expression’yellow dust from China’ is unfair
On the 15th, the downtown of Hueohot in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in China is covered with dark yellow sand. Shinhwa/Yonhap News
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zaorizen said at a regular briefing on the 16th, when a question from a Chinese reporter saying that the Korean media reports’yellow dust from China’ came out, “the environment and atmospheric issues have no borders. This yellow dust started outside the borders of China, and China is just a place to go through.” Spokesman Zhao referred to Mongolia as the source of the yellow dust, not China, and said, “However, Chinese public opinion did not hold responsibility for the start of yellow dust in Mongolia.” The enormous yellow dust started in Mongolia and swept through Beijing, China, but it is not to blame for natural phenomena. He said, “We must look at related issues with a scientific and constructive attitude and refrain from unnecessary media play. China will actively participate in environmental protection with the international community and contribute to building a beautiful and clean world.” In Korea, where the concentration of fine dust and ultrafine dust in the air soared, controversy originated from China, there were many reactions to remarks such as “press play” and “participation in environmental protection” by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China. First of all, I objectively weighed where the yellow sand originated. First of all, it is correct to see it as’from Mongolia + yellow sand from China’.
The Korea Meteorological Administration National Institute of Meteorological Science and the Ministry of Environment and the National Institute of Environmental Sciences said on the afternoon of the 15th that “yellow dust has originated in Inner Mongolia and Gobi Desert in China from the 14th”.did. The Gobi Desert and the Inner Mongolia Plateau span Mongolia and China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The forecast delivered to Korean citizens was the result of the report by the Chinese Meteorological Bureau to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and confirmed by meteorological authorities around the world. According to the yellow dust observation diary confirmed by the Korean Meteorological Administration after the 14th, it seems that a strong wind started blowing in the morning of the 14th in the center of the Gobi Desert in Mongolia, north of the border between China and Mongolia. Until the 17th, it was observed that yellow dust affected central and southern China, and even South Korea as far as possible.▶Refer to the Yellow Sand Observation Map) Park Jung-min, a forecaster at the Meteorological Administration, said, “The blue line between low and high pressure is atmospheric pressure, and the narrower the space between this line, the higher the barometric gradient and the wind blows. If you look at the path of the wind, it seems that yellow dust started in Mongolia, and it can affect yellow dust in China as it moves thereafter.” It is explained that the yellow dust that started in Mongolia seems to have flowed sequentially to Beijing and South Korea through Inner Mongolia in northern China. In fact, in Mongolia, 10 people are reported to have died (as of the 16th) due to a strong sand storm that blew from the 13th.
Yellow sand observation map delivered by the China Meteorological Bureau on the 14th. The red dot marks the yellow sand that originated in Mongolia. Provided by the Meteorological Agency
Of course, there is also yellow sand from China. This is the result of an analysis of the origin of the yellow dust that affected Korea from 2002 to last year by the Meteorological Administration. The source of the yellow dust, which flies to California in western United States in 2-3 days, is concentrated in Mongolia and northern China as a dry region in East Asia. Among these, most of the yellow sand that flows to Korea departs from the Gobi Desert and the Manchuria area.
The origin and route of yellow sand that affected Korea in 2002-20. National Institute of Meteorology
According to the statistics of the Meteorological Administration, yellow dust originating from the center of the Gobi Desert in Mongolia and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in China and passing through the Inner Mongolia Highlands is 51% of the total origin, 12% from the west of the Gobi Desert, and yellow dust from the east of the Gobi Desert and Manchuria, China. Each was 18%. The yellow dust blowing from the Hwangto Plateau located in the interior of China also accounted for 1%. Sometimes, the yellow dust that started in China affects Korea. An expert on environmental policy in China, who requested anonymity, said, “It is clear that this yellow dust originated in southern Mongolia. However, as it moves along the air current and passes through the desert regions of China, yellow dust that newly occurs in China may be mixed. There is a problem with the expression’from China’, but scientific analysis will reveal whether or not yellow dust originated in China is included.” If we look at the origin of this yellow sand, it is that yellow sand from Mongolia and from China are mixed.
Confidence? For diplomatic purposes? For domestic use?… The hidden context of the official refutation
What is the reason why China refutes that this yellow dust is not’yellow dust from China’? Yang Gap-yong, a senior research fellow at the National Security Strategy Research Institute, paid attention to a briefing by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China that referred to “scientific attitude”. Senior Research Fellow Yang said, “In general, the Chinese government only mentions in principle when the fact is unclear, but it seems to have spoken firmly because there is a fact that it is clear that the origin of this yellow dust is Mongolia.” “The Chinese SNS and others are criticizing the government for this yellow dust. Being attacked inside and outside, it can come out in terms of public diplomacy or (national) image. It also seems unfair to China,” he added.
On the morning of the 15th, citizens go to work in Beijing, China. AP Yonhap News
Although China is the same, the citizens of Beijing, China, may also be victims of yellow dust. Some analysts say that they tried to refute the report as if they were the perpetrators and inform their citizens that the Chinese government is also working to resolve the yellow dust. A government official said, “Unlike fine dust, yellow dust is a natural phenomenon and the area that is becoming desert due to climate change is expanding. For this reason, we are cooperating with each other through an international treaty against desertification. China can also claim to be a victim, but since South Korea named it from China, it would be unfair to the Chinese government.” An expert on environmental policy in China said, “China is burdened with the stigma of being a polluted country in the expression from China.”
Environmental destiny community… It is frustrating, but only recognition and cooperation are the answer.
On the 16th, when the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs showed uncomfortable feelings toward the Korean media, Environment Minister Han Han-ae and Chinese Minister of Ecology and Environment Huang Lun-chi-wu were meeting with video. When high-density fine dust is expected, a discussion was held to open a’hotline’ where high-level officials, including the ministers of both countries, can urgently share measures and cooperate. “The Korean-Chinese government is in the process of reaching an agreement on fine dust,” said Lee Tae-il, director of Ecopeace Asia, who has planted grass seeds to restore the grasslands of China’s Inner Mongolia since 2008. Experts stressed that in order to solve the environmental problems across the two countries, there is no choice but to continue cooperation in environmental policy from a long-term perspective. This is because of the characteristics of environmental issues that cannot easily produce visible results.
On the afternoon of the 16th, forecasters are analyzing the distribution of yellow dust at the Metropolitan Meteorological Office in Gwonseon-gu, Suwon-si, Gyeonggi-do. The Meteorological Administration announced on the 14th to 15th that yellow dust originated in the vicinity of the Inner Mongolia Highlands and the Gobi Desert in China and traveled south through the north wind, affecting the entire country on this day. yunhap news
First of all, it was pointed out that China should show an active attitude, such as transparently disclosing information. Professor Han-kwon Kim of the National Academy of Foreign Affairs said, “In the case of yellow sand, China’s intention cannot be pointed out as to the source of yellow sand that spans Mongolia and China. “As Korea participated in the tree planting project to prevent desertification in China, it is necessary to develop trust and cooperation between the two countries.” Prof. Kim said, “After objectively determining the rate of occurrence of fine dust from China and fine dust from Korea and from Korea, based on the results of the study, this issue with China We need to discuss how to respond and cooperate with each other.” The’yellow dust from China’ controversy is largely triggered by’fine dust from China’. A government official said, “Unlike fine dust, yellow sand is not very harmful because it has a large particle size. However, if you write’yellow dust from China’, like’fine dust from China’, there is a side that gives the feeling of increasing the harmfulness of yellow dust while holding China responsible for natural phenomena.”
The hottest debate on fine dust from China is currently ongoingto be. Based on the results of the studies so far, fine dust generated in Korea is one of the three factors: inflow to China, outbreaks in Korea, and atmospheric stagnation. However, when the concentration of fine dust increases, many people auto-reflectively harden their feelings of’Made in China’. The’Northeast Asia Long-distance Air Pollutants Joint Research Report’ jointly released by Korea, China and Japan in November 2019 is the latest research data that the three countries cooperated with. The researchers measured and analyzed fine dust in three locations in Seoul, Daejeon, and Busan in Korea in 2017 and calculated. The annual average contribution rate of ultrafine dust generated in Korea was found to be 51% in Korea, 32% in China, 2% in Japan, and 15% in others. Since it was agreed to disclose only the average contribution rate, the contribution rate in the high concentration situation was not disclosed. In the end, experts explain that both countries need to work together to reduce pollutants before swearing that they are from China, because the contribution rates of fine dust to Korea and China change at that time. An expert on environmental policy in China said, “It was a tremendous achievement to establish a system that shares the concentration of fine dust with China in real time for about 20 years from the early mid-2000s. However, China has basically never signed a binding bilateral agreement on environmental issues. It is true that it does not meet the level of the Korean people’s eyes or demands, but it is practically difficult to ask China to reduce fine dust through a binding agreement unless China cooperates.” However, it is hopeful that China is actively promoting carbon neutrality in recent years. This expert said, “Because GHG reduction is linked to the reduction of fine dust, it is worth considering a plan to create a Northeast Asian cooperation system by naturally integrating the fine dust and GHG issues.”
After the earthquake in Fukushima, Japan, the Chinese government approved a plan to install two new reactors at the Hongyanhe nuclear power plant (pictured) in Dalian, Liaoning Province in 2015, and is steadily approving the construction of nuclear power plants. EPA Yonhap News
Trilateral cooperation between Korea, China and Japan is also required on nuclear power, which has a greater impact than yellow dust and fine dust. China is currently operating 50 nuclear power plants and is building 12 more. China, which is considering nuclear power plants as a means to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to alleviate power shortages, is expected to become the world’s largest nuclear power plant operator in several years, overtaking the United States (94) and France (56). There is also a plan to launch an offshore nuclear power plant in the west sea of Shandong Province, which is adjacent to the Korean peninsula.
The state of nuclear power in China. World Atomic Energy Association website capture
One climate and weather expert said, “In Korea, which is affected by the western wind, the damage is very serious when an accident occurs at a nuclear power plant in China.” Professor Han-kwon Kim said, “The perspective of using nuclear power plants from the three countries of Korea, China and Japan may be different. It is necessary to build trust through cooperation with yellow dust and fine dust, and discuss transparent data disclosure and sharing for nuclear power plants. “If you don’t take this situation progressively, the problem can become more difficult.” By Choi Woo-ri, staff reporter