Fine Dust Measures

[Anchor Lead]

President Moon Jae-in asked for extraordinary measures to fight the worst fine dust problem ever. The government has decided to provide assistance to the populations that are most vulnerable to fine particulates, and to review instituting the alternate-day driving system.

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President Moon Jae-in asked all ministries to come up with countermeasures to the fine dust problem. He told the Ministry of Environment to use the authority of the president and the prime minister to gain cooperation from other ministries since the oversight ministry can only do so much by itself. He stressed the importance of coming up with measures for children, who are particularly vulnerable to fine dust. As there are many childcare centers, kindergartens, and schools with air purifiers that are too small for the areas, He instructed ministries to find ways to subsidize the purchases of large-capacity air purifiers for these institutions. The Environment ministry vowed to pull all its resources to come up with effective measures. The ministry mentioned instituting the alternate-day driving system. Environment Minister Cho Myung-rae said that by law, people cannot be forced to leave their cars at home, but the government can appeal to the people to follow the nationwide alternate-day driving system. Also, the government will increase the operation of water-spraying trucks on major roads in downtown areas, and wash down subway stations and other public facilities during rush hours. Police will crack down harder on illegal incineration and vehicle idling as well. The Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy may even suspend the operation of additional thermal power plants as those facilities are one of the main emitters of fine dust. They plans to review the number of power plants that can be suspended of operation and how long such measures can be imposed without disrupting power supply.

[Soundbite] Noh Hyeong-ouk(Minister for Government Policy Coordination (Mar. 5)) : "It is time for the government to use all its resources and devise new measures."

The government will set up a cooperative system with Beijing that shares fine dust forecasts on a real-time basis to deal with the fine particles coming from China.