After the 2020 Government Demonstration Ceremony, which was held at the Central Government Complex in Seoul on January 2nd, the Minister of Environment, Cho Myung-rae, conducted an aerial surveillance of fine dust on the same day as the first official schedule of the year. 

The plane took off from the Hanseo University Taean Airport in Taean-gun, South Chungcheong Province around 1:30 p.m. and flew about an hour over the key fine dust sources in the northwest region of the South Chungcheong Province, including Taean Thermal Power Plant, Daesan Industrial Complex, Dangjin Thermoelectric Power Plant, and Hyundai Steel Dangjin Factory, toward the West Sea. 

The surveillance plane is a mid-sized, 19-seater plane, which was rented by the National Institute of Environmental Research (NIER) from Hanseo University in December 2018 and remodeled for fine dust surveillance.

The plane began operations in March 2019. It has been conducting scientific surveys on fine dust through high resolution, real-time observations using ten state-of-the-art analysis devices, including a fine dust mass spectrometer and a black carbon analyzer. The devices can simultaneously measure not only the component composition of fine dust but also the materials casing the phenomenon (sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds, etc.). 

From now on, the mid-sized plane will focus on monitoring domestic and international fine dust in the West Sea, from Baengnyeongdo Island in the north to Mokpo in the south.

After aerial surveillance, Minister Cho declared his plan to solve fine dust problems based on scientific surveillance and research.

He announced that the ministry will establish a three-dimensional and thorough network for fine dust surveillance, encompassing ground, marine, aerial, and satellite resources, in order to discover the sources of fine dust by using scientific methods as well as create tailored solutions.

Unlike the previous fine dust solutions, which were uniformly implemented nationwide, the new solutions will target the priority targets first, which are the key emission sources in each region, to maximize effectiveness. 

Furthermore, the Minister revealed a plan to accelerate the Chinese government's effort for fine dust reduction by utilizing scientific surveillance and research data of the fine dust inflow from overseas, which can help fortify cooperation between the two countries.

To this end, the Ministry of Environment and NIER are planning to strengthen ground surveillance and related research, centering around the network of 666 air pollution measurement points nationwide and eight Center for Atmospheric Environment Research under NIER*. 

* Baengnyeongdo Island, Seoul (Bulgwang-dong), Ansan, Daejeon (Munhwa-dong), Gwangju (Oryong-dong), Ulsan (Seongan-dong), Seosan, and Jeju Island (Aewol)

Additionally, a world-first geostationary orbit environmental satellite, to be launched on February 19th, will reinforce the fine dust surveillance of the surrounding countries from the east (Japan) to the west (Indonesia).

Finally, the ministry will strengthen surveillance of the inflow of fine dust from overseas by the end of March with 35 large ships from the Korean Coast Guard and a new surveillance network to be built on eight remote islands off the west coast*.

* Yeonpyeongdo Island, Uldo Island, Gyeongnyeolbiyeoldo Island, Oeyeondo Island, Anmado Island, Hongdo Island, Gageodo Island, and Gageo Reef

 "Through today's flight, we have solidified our determination to eradicate fine dust, which not only makes our daily lives uncomfortable but also threatens public health," stated Minister Cho.

"This year, we will continue on concentrating all the capabilities of the Ministry of Environment to respond to fine dust."