The worst case of "yellow dust" ever to come to Korea hit the country over the weekend. People who believed the Korean Meteorological Administration (KMA) forecast issued 5 a.m. Saturday that the worst of it would be over by morning and that it would peter out in the afternoon found themselves drinking the stuff unprotected while stuck outdoors. According to a study by a state-supported research institute, yellow dust makes 180,000 people sick every year and causes 2,000 people to die early deaths. It looks like that study does not mean much to the KMA.
The particles that come with the yellow dust pass through the defense mechanisms in our breathing systems and infiltrate as far as our lungs before accumulating there. Those particles are particularly dangerous for containing high concentrations of harmful material such as heavy metal, which is why the government has a warning system in place. And in place it was indeed this past weekend, without ever functioning. What is the use of a system that cannot warn you when there are clouds with fifteen times acceptable levels blowing their way about? The most important thing in maintaining our health and nature's health is prevention, and the warning system is the last resort. Alerting people to the danger immediately before a crisis is not a proactive response, but the KMA failed to do even that much.
KMA was as careless and irresponsible as can be. It is an immeasurably lame excuse to say it could not predict the direction the yellow dust would take in an era when there are satellites in the skies to watch. A survey system quickly needs to be put in place, one that collects and analyzes regional data in real time.
In addition, the government needs to work with the other countries that suffer the affects of yellow dust, China and Japan. Given the rapid pace of desertification and industrialization in China, there is going to be even more harmful material in the yellow dust that comes here and the harmful effects are going to get worse as well. Korea needs to work with China where there is work to be done together, and it needs to work through diplomatic channels to call for ways to actively prevent desertification. China has the budget and the people for the task.
The Hankyoreh, 11 April 2006.
[Translations by Seoul Selection]
[Editorial] Inadequate Warning About 'Yellow Dust' |
