I can't breathe! (6/1/19)
- DeeAnn Taylor-Rivera
- Jun 1, 2019
- 2 min read
We stood on the top of the Sky Walk which is above the World Cup Arena. It was an impressive site to visit. It’s hard to imagine the beautiful park-like area we were traversing was once a smelly, monstrous trash heap, riddled with disease and toxic refuse.
The panoramic views were breath-taking-literally. There was a dense haze that could be seen hovering over the city. It was hard to make out some of the buildings because they were obscured by the pollution.
According to an article from the Guardian, the Korean citizen’s biggest concern is the polluted environment they can’t escape.
“The report says South Koreans view environmental problems as more relevant to their lives, compared with threats from the North. North Korea has in the past threatened to turn Seoul into a “sea of fire” and Kim Jong-un’s regime has thousands of pieces of artillery and rockets that can strike the South Korean capital.
The survey was conducted in 2017, at a time when Donald Trump and the North Korean leader were openly trading insults and threats of mutual destruction.
But South Koreans have lived with their heavily armed, vitriolic neighbour to the north for decades and the vast majority of young people do not view the Kim regime as an imminent threat. The most recent outbreak of violence was in 2010: 50 people were killed when North Korea shelled an island near the border and sank a navy corvette.
South Korea has the worst air quality among the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a group of 35 developed economies, followed by Poland and South Africa. Levels of harmful fine particulate matter, which have been found to penetrate deep into the lungs and are associated with cancer and respiratory ailments, are nearly three times World Health Organization guidelines.
“I’m directly breathing this toxic, polluted air on my way to work and home every day, knowing that it will cause me all sorts of diseases in the next decade, like lung cancer and inflammation in the brain if we don’t stop it now,” said one office worker in Seoul, according to The Korea Herald.”
A few days ago, we were approached by a nice elderly gentleman who told us in broken English and using hand gestures to “wear a mask.” While, I don’t think the type of masks they wear here in Korea will actually filter the particles that are “toxic,” I do not see a solution to the issue at present. It will be interesting to see how South Korea approaches this huge obstacle of providing clean air to make a healthy Seoul.
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