Fine dust pollution is on the rise again here as China emerges from lockdown, which is bad news for Korean farmers and fishermen.
According to experts, food exposed to fine dust does not affect your health, but farmers and fishermen still halt work when the air is bad and lose money. Some spend huge sums of money to create indoor facilities to dry their produce and catch.
Fine dust concentrations has worsened compared to the last three years. The average PM 2.5 density last month was 28 ㎍/㎥, around 17 percent higher than the average from 2019 to 2022.
According to the Korea Environment Corporation, 142 fine dust warnings have been issued so far this year, compared to just 95 a in the same period last year.
Fishermen are facing similar problems. A fisherman in Busan says that last month he lost 10 working days as he could not hang and dry fish due to fine dust, an increase from five days over the last three years. He had to build an expensive indoor facility with a huge electric dryer, but power costs are giving him another headache now.