South Korean Cultural Ecology - 1905 to 1990
Part 4 - Pollution and the Future -- Page 29

D. Air Pollution

The World Health organization noted that Seoul's air has the highest sulfur-dioxide content of the world's major cities. By 1988 Shenyang in China and Milan in Italy had passed Seoul, but Seoul is still in 4th place. Pusan, Inchon, Ulsan, Masan, Anyang, and Changweon each have high levels of sulfur dioxide. Sixty-seven percent of the rain that falls in Seoul has enough acid to pose a health threat to human beings. Crops are also being affected and some factories have had to compensate farmers for loses. Seoul had a million cars in its streets but that only contributed 34.5% of the air pollution in 1989. In 1979 the auto pollution was 8% and the factories were 87% of the pollution. The government has required the use of desulphurization facilities in the late 1970s but still allowed cheap, high-sulfur oil to be used. High-sulfur oil is now prohibited but officials admit violations often occur.

None of Korea's coal-burning power plants that generate 23% of the electric power have pollution-treatment facilities for sulfur dioxide or nitrous oxide (NO2). Korea has just built a new CFC plant admitting that the fines against CFCs are too low to make it profitable to comply. The problem seems to be the government's unwillingness to slow down the high-speed growth to clean up the air.