Last Summer..

I went on a trip that changed my life

I even got to be the
professor myself and
taught english to a
class of about 50
students

I went to go study art with a

Professor I knew at Hongdae
University

One thing that I couldn’t but notice while I was there was… the air. I had trouble breathing the whole and I knew
South Korea was a very industrialized country, but so is the United States. This was what began my journey on
discovering what caused the air pollution in South Korea to be at the point where I even had trouble sleeping with
the windows open.
 Nationalism and Environmentalism
Jasmine Holt
 Air pollution is an apparent
problem in South Korea…

Compared to Minnesota I had a

hard time breathing especially since
I was living in Incheon which is the
third biggest city besides Seoul and
Busan (7). My mom brushed off my
concerns and told me it was
because of the desert dust and
factory pollution in China.

This led me to ask myself this

question:

What is responsible for the

overwhelming amount of air
pollution in South Korea,
domestic issues or China?
Image source: (5)

Hypothesis: China is responsible for Korea’s air pollution because of it’s even
higher air pollution rate and deserts.
Collected Data
I asked 30 english students I tutored last year on what their personal opinions
were.. 80% agreed with my hypothesis saying that China had a bigger role.

Even though I was satisfied with my answer..

Could we have been simply listening to what
our parents told us instead of actually being
informed on this issue?

People are quick to blame others when it

comes to preserving their own national pride.
How do I know that this is not also the same
case?
 Is it Really Because of China?
According to the South Korean Ministry of Trade, the South Korean Government has put a lot of the blame on Beijing,
ignoring the fact that liquified natural gas (LNG) and coal consumption has rapidly increased over the past decade (2).

● “From 2005 to 2014, South Korea’s gas-fired power plants increased their output from 58,000 to 111,700 gigawatt hours, while coal-fired
powered plants also increased from 134,900 to 203,800 gigawatt hours” (1)

The government has even went as far as to blame cooking habits and automobiles for pollution instead of the actual consumption of fossil fuels that the
government is NOT being held accountable for themselves.

Making matters worse, Seoul said there was not much that could be done about the problem, and claimed that about 80 per cent of the
capital’s pollution was external in origin – mostly from China (1).

The South Korean government seems to be pushing the

blame onto others.. but that doesn’t mean they are
COMPLETELY ignoring the issue, right?

Image Source (7)

 Is the South Korean Government Completely Ignorant?

Even though they are wrongly placing their blame on someone else, that’s just simple
politics. We need to look at whether they are at least taking action instead on focusing
on whether they are taking the blame..

Guess what? They are.

● In 2010, Seoul invested 8.2 billion dollars into a wind farm and it only took the next year to created 1.5
million jobs from clean energy
● They are on the track to becoming 18% percent of the clean energy industry by 2030
● 2014, the government saved over $1.9 billion dollars and used it to create six clean energy-related Image Source (7)
businesses

Source (7)
Conclusion
Quick Refresher From The Last Few Slides
“It's a common complaint in South Korea that its poor air quality is the fault of nearby China. Meteorological conditions like stagnant weather, high humidity and calm winds combine with deforestation to sweep
China's smog southward.
While this is true, much of the blame lies with South Korea itself, with more than half of its fine dust originating domestically, according to a 2016 joint study by NASA and the Korean government” (3).

Even though I have immense national pride It became quite obvious during my personal “investigation” that South Korea was trying to
pinpoint most of the blame on China.. But unlike other countries like the United States, South Korea is making big efforts to see that this
problem is reduced not only for the health of its citizens, but for the good of the environment as a whole.

My hypothesis was proven wrong since SOUTH KOREA was mostly responsible for the alarming rates of air pollution in the country
because of the inexcusable mass-use of fossil fuels.

What did I take out of this?

Never assume what other people tell you until researching the issue and topic yourself. Even when the mass might agree on one
specific opinion, there is always a chance that they might be misguided.
Bibliography
1) Volodzko, David Josef. “Why South Korea Needs to Fix Its Own Polluting Ways.” South China Morning Post, South China Morning Post, 28 Apr. 2017,
www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2087447/china-blame-koreas-pollution-really.

2) Jung, Woosuk, et al. “South Korea's Air Pollution: Gasping for Solutions.” Institute for Security and Development Policy,
isdp.eu/publication/south-koreas-air-pollution-gasping-solutions

3) “Seoul's Air Pollution Is Out of Control, but Drones May Be Key to Stopping It.” U.S. News & World Report, U.S. News & World Report,
www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2018-08-08/seoul-turns-to-technology-to-battle-air-pollution.

4) Hu, Elise. “Armed With NASA Data, South Korea Confronts Its Choking Smog.” NPR, NPR, 10 Oct. 2017,
www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2017/10/10/552264719/armed-with-nasa-data-south-korea-confronts-its-choking-smog.

5) Stiles, Matt. “Air Quality in Seoul, China, U.S.” The Daily Viz, 11 June 2016, thedailyviz.com/2016/06/03/charting-air-pollution/.

6) Findlay, Justin. “Biggest Cities In South Korea.” World Atlas, Worldatlas, 8 Sept. 2016, www.worldatlas.com/articles/biggest-cities-in-south-korea.html.

7) Smith, Brett. “South Korea: Environmental Issues, Policies and Clean Technology.” AZoCleantech.com, AZoCleantech.com, 9 July 2018,
www.azocleantech.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=552.