환경부 "중국과 미세먼지 비상저감조치 공동시행 추진"
The South Korean government revealed a new set of measures... to combat the growing issue of fine dust.
Included in the plans: working with China to create artificial rain.
Our Park Hee-jun has our top story. South Korea plans to enforce emergency fine dust reduction measures... in a joint, simultaneous effort with China.
At a press conference Thursday,... Environment Minister Cho Myung-rae unveiled a set of stronger measures... to bring down the dangerous levels of fine dust in the country.
Cho says the ministry will cooperate with China to carry out the emergency measures,... including a cloud-seeding project, aimed at inducing artificial rain to wash away the fine dust.
"China's technology is more advanced than ours, so we will cooperate on conducting a joint experiment over the West Sea within this year. But we also plan to conduct a test of our own in March."
The ministry also plans to categorize its emergency measures,... which will kick into effect depending on the length of the crisis.
If the fine dust measures are in effect for three straight days or more,... vehicles used by public servants will be banned completely from the country's roads.
Some 36-thousand factories emitting high levels of pollution... will also have to cut their operating hours short.
If the measures remain in effect for five days or more,... road restrictions will be applied to more vehicles... depending on their emissions grade.
Regional governments will also implement their own vehicle rotation system.
The ministry is also pushing to limit the output of 60 coal-fired power plants to 80 percent,... while reviewing the option to decommission two aging power plants.
"The new set of measures comes amid the public's heightened concern over the seriously high fine dust levels. Besides the new plan,... the ministry will work to come up with more drastic steps that can resolve air pollution in the future. Park Hee-jun, Arirang News."
