• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.211-217
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• 1999

Data on ambient levels of $SO_2$, $NO_x$, and their emissions in Northeast Asia with special emphasis on China are collected and discussed. Also, study results on long-range transport of air pollutants in the region were briefly discussed. It was found that emissions of air pollutants in China are dominant over the region.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.87-100
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• 2018

Fast economic growth and urbanization of China have been causing air pollution not only over its domestic but transboundary atmosphere. Recent high fine particle pollution episodes in China made the government move toward more stringent air pollution control policies - which are mostly fuel switching and emissions control. In this research, we tried to understand characteristics of Chinese emissions and their change by analyzing its emissions inventory by year, sector, and region. From the inter-comparison of existing bottom-up emission inventories, we found relatively good agreements (<20% difference) for $SO_2$ and $NO_x$, but 30% or more discrepancies for some pollutants. Inter-comparison with top-down $NO_x$ emissions estimates also showed 20~50% differences by year. The regional distribution and inter-annual changes of emissions revealed different stages of energy/fuel mix and policy penetration. Early increase of pollutants emissions in the eastern part of China might give strong influences to the Korean peninsular in early 2000s but, more stringent control in that region would help improving air pollution in Korea in near future.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.33-46
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• 2004

Air pollutants were measured eight times from June 1999 to June 2002 on regular ferries cruising across the Yellow Sea between Incheon in Korea and Qingdao or Tianjin in China. PM$_{10}$ and PM$_{2.5}$ were measured as particulate matters and SO$_2$, CO, and NO$_{x}$ were measured as gaseous pollutants. On each route, sampling was made, starting two hour after departure and ending two hour before arrival. Low concentrations of gaseous pollutants that were not much varied according to sampling period and location revealed that atmosphere over the sea was not directly affected by anthropogenic emissions. However, concentrations of fine particles were generally higher than those measured at Deokjeok Island, 50km west of the western seashore, at similar periods. It was believed that considerable influence of China in the form of secondary pollutants was exerted over the sea.a.a.a.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.430-436
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• 2015

Numerical air quality forecasting suffers from the large uncertainties of input data including emissions, boundary conditions, earth surface properties. Data assimilation has been widely used in the field of weather forecasting as a way to reduce the forecasting errors stemming from the uncertainties of input data. The present study aims at evaluating the effect of input data on the air quality forecasting results in Korea when data assimilation was invoked to generate the initial concentrations. The forecasting time was set to 36 hour and the emissions and initial conditions were chosen as tested input parameters. The air quality forecast model for Korea consisting of WRF and CMAQ was implemented for the test and the chosen test period ranged from November $2^{nd}$ to December $1^{st}$ of 2014. Halving the emission in China reduces the forecasted peak value of $PM_{10}$ and $SO_2$ in Seoul as much as 30% and 35% respectively due to the transport from China for the no-data assimilation case. As data assimilation was applied, halving the emissions in China has a negligible effect on air pollutant concentrations including $PM_{10}$ and $SO_2$ in Seoul. The emissions in Korea still maintain an effect on the forecasted air pollutant concentrations even after the data assimilation is applied. These emission sensitivity tests along with the initial condition sensitivity tests demonstrated that initial concentrations generated by data assimilation using field observation may minimize propagation of errors due to emission uncertainties in China. And the initial concentrations in China is more important than those in Korea for long-range transported air pollutants such as $PM_{10}$ and $SO_2$. And accurate estimation of the emissions in Korea are still necessary for further improvement of air quality forecasting in Korea even after the data assimilation is applied.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.113-132
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• 2003

In May 2001, the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) for phasing out and eliminating POPs was signed by 90 countries at the Diplomatic Meeting in Stockholm. In 1998, three years before the Convention, the protocols on POPs and heavy metals were adopted by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe under the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution. Growing attention on POPs and heavy metals during the past 10 years is primarily due to their toxicity in minute quantities. POPs and some metal compounds are even more toxic because of their bioaccumulation potentials associated with a high lipid solubility. Furthermore, owing to their persistence and semi - volatility, they are widely distributed in the environment, traveling great distances on wind and water currents. Recent international cooperation to address POPs and heavy metals has focused on these issues. Long -range transport of those pollutants are particularly concerned since Korea is located downwind of prevailing westerlies from China. In this paper, a review is provided to assess the properties, sources, emissions, and atmospheric concentrations on POPs and heavy metals.

• Journal of Korea Trade
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.119-146
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• 2023

Purpose - As the severity of air pollution caused by the shipping industry is becoming evident, port authorities have started making efforts to reduce air pollutants. Considering the limitations of the currently implemented emission-control area (ECA) and vessel-speed reduction program (VSRP), which are narrow in the designation range and navigation behavior of ships, this study proposes an emission-control route (ECR) that can complement the aforementioned two environmental policies. Design/methodology - This study was conducted on Korea-China trade service routes (ports of call) of regular liners. This study employed vessel-specific data, which is from an automatic identification system (AIS), for 1,728 maritime transportations performed by 387 container vessels during one year (July 1, 2021, to June 30, 2022). Performing a scenario analysis, this study analyzed the effectiveness of reduced air-pollutant emissions. Findings - This study found that the implementation of ECRs could increase average voyage time by 12.38%-25.28% but reduced air-pollutant emissions by 29.02%-43.54%. Additionally, the increase in average voyage times reduces the anchorage time of ships outside ports, providing an incentive for ship operators to voluntarily participate in compliance with regulations, thereby contributing to the establishment of a virtuous cycle of air-environmental policies related to ships. Originality/value - This study aims to verify the policy effectiveness by designing an ECR scope for liner trade routes between Korea and China. Therefore, originality and the value of this study includes conceptualizing the ECR system, analyzing its environmental performance, and exploring new policies that can be implemented while complementing existing policies.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.503-514
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• 2002

During the past two decades, primary pollutants in the ambient air have been substantially reduced in Korea by aggressive government efforts such as the switchover to clean fuels and equipment of automobiles with a three-way catalytic converter. However, visibility impairment in Seoul and major metropolitan areas has been a stubborn problem. It is apparent that both directly emitted fine particles mainly from vehicles and secondary fine particles from photochemical reactions could contribute to this visibility impairment. In addition, Korea is located downwind of the prevailing westerlies from China and is influenced by the emissions of air pollutants in China. In order to assess this complicated problem of visibility impairment, the visibility trends for the past 17 years observed at more than 60 stations throughout the country were analyzed. The results showed that visibilities were generally the lowest in the winter morning in comparison with those in the summer afternoon as well as the annual average values. It was believed that primary pollution was principally responsible for visibility impairment in most areas. The visibility in the summer afternoon was lower in clean coastal areas along with a high level of relative humidity due to the inflow of moist air accompanied by sea breeze. Although contributions of secondary particles from photochemical reactions and long-range transport of fine particles to the visibility impairment were probable, their certain evidences were not found.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.373-392
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• 2018

The emission of air pollutants in China has increased rapidly as its economy expanded over the last decades. The Chinese government has recently acknowledged the seriousness of the resulting air pollution and is trying to improve air quality in many ways. Here, we review the air quality control and management policies in China, one of our closest neighbors, because these policies may also influence the air quality in Korea. This study examined the recent policies on $PM_{2.5}$ reduction and analyzed the variation in air quality and air pollutant emissions in China. The ambient air quality and emission standards in China have been strengthened, based on China's Air Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan of 2013. As a result, the annual mean concentration of $PM_{2.5}$ in 2015 in 74 large Chinese cities declined by 23.6% compared with 2013 values. Coal consumption in China also has been reduced by more than 10% per year since 2013. Furthermore, the laws controlling atmospheric emissions were revised again in 2016, and an air pollution forecasting and warning system was implemented to help manage air pollution problems. At present, the Chinese government is trying to evaluate its policies on $PM_{2.5}$ and find a new paradigm to mitigate ongoing $PM_{2.5}$ pollution. In this context, a joint study between Korea and China has been initiated to investigate the characteristics and sources of ambient $PM_{2.5}$ and to identify factors contributing to the high $PM_{2.5}$ concentrations in northeast China. We expect that this academic collaboration will benefit both countries in their search for new policies for $PM_{2.5}$ reduction.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.265-282
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• 2022

This study analyzes the impact of long-range transport of biomass burning emissions from northeastern China on the concentration of particulate matter of diameter less than 10 ㎛ (PM₁₀) in Korea using the Weather Research and Forecasting model coupled with Chemistry (WRF-Chem). Korea was impacted by anthropogenic emissions from eastern China, dust storms from northern China and Mongolia, and biomass burning emissions from northeast China between April 4-and 7, 2020. The contributions of long-range PM₁₀ transport were calculated by separating biomass burning emissions from mixed air pollutants with anthropogenic emissions and dust storms using the zeroing-out method. Further, the radiation energy budget over land and sea around the Korean Peninsula was analyzed according to the distribution of biomass burning emissions. Based on the WRF-Chem simulation during April 5-6, 2020, the contribution of long-range transport of biomass burning emissions was calculated as 60% of the daily PM₁₀ average in Korea. The net heat flux around the Korean Peninsula was in a negative phase due to the influence of the large-scale biomass burning emissions. However, the contribution of biomass burning emissions was analyzed to be <45% during April 7-8, 2020, when the anthropogenic emissions from eastern China were added to biomass burning emissions, and PM₁₀ concentration increased compared with the concentration recorded during April 5-6, 2020 in Korea. Furthermore, the net heat flux around the Korean Peninsula increased to a positive phase with the decreasing influence of biomass burning emissions.

• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.23-45
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• 2020

The rapid economic growth has brought tremendous pressure on the environment and caused severe air pollution in China. This study empirically examines causes of air pollution in China. Panel-corrected standard errors procedure (PCSE) was used to analyze major determinants of increasing or reducing emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO₂) and nitrogen oxides (NO_X) in 30 Chinese provinces. The estimation results show that SO₂ emission is mitigated as per capita regional GDP increases, but the relation between emission of NO_X and per capita regional GDP is found to have an inverse N-shaped curve, which implies that emission of NO_X is ultimately expected to decline with economic growth. As for increasing factors of air pollutants, electricity consumption is a significant common source of SO₂ and NO_X emissions. Moreover, the results show that increment of coal consumption significantly affects emission of SO₂ while increase of natural gas consumption reduce emission of SO₂. On the other side, investment in energy industry, and investment on treatment of waste gases are determinants of mitigating emissions of SO₂, but have no impact on NO_X. Consumption of diesel, truck ratio and number of vehicles increase emission of NO_X. Meanwhile, higher precipitation rate is a common determinant of mitigating emissions of SO₂ and NO_X. Policy implications are suggested in the conclusion.