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| Fine dust covers central Seoul, with concentrations at "very bad" and "bad" levels in many parts of the country, Monday. Yonhap |
By Lee Hae-rin
Fine dust is forecast to continue blanketing most parts of the country until Thursday, with levels expected to remain "bad," according to the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA), Monday.
Weather authorities advise people to refrain from outdoor activities or wear masks when they go outside, forecasting that the fine dust level will improve from this Friday.
The National Institute of Environmental Research (NIER), under the Ministry of Environment, said the poor air quality is due to smog blowing in from China, yellow dust from deserts in northern China and Mongolia and domestic air pollution.
The KMA said the fine dust density levels varied between "very bad" to "bad" throughout the country on Monday. As of 9 a.m., the fine dust levels in Seoul and Incheon were "very bad," at 127 micrograms per cubic meter and 160 micrograms per cubic meter, respectively. The country saw a record-high daily average of fine dust concentration at 143 micrograms per cubic meter on Saturday.
According to the institute's categorizations of air quality, the concentration of fine dust between 81 micrograms per cubic meter and 150 micrograms per cubic meter is classified as "bad," and above 151 micrograms per cubic meter is "very bad."
Weather authorities forecast temperatures to remain between 3 degrees Celsius to 5 degrees Celsius higher than the annual average this week, but the fine dust level, which was at its worst throughout the weekend, will also remain high.
The Korea Environment Corp. forecast that the fine dust level will remain high on Thursday in some parts of the country, including Seoul and its surrounding areas, as well as the interior Chungcheong provinces and Gangwon Province. The authorities forecast that a nationwide rain will clear away the fine dust on Friday and throughout the weekend.
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