• Analyses & Alternatives
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.163-194
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• 2022

A transboundary environmental problem refers to an environmental problem that goes beyond a country's territory and damages neighboring countries. It is a difficult problem because, basically, it is a natural, rather than intentional, effect, and it is extremely hard to make a scientific consensus on the cause-effect relations between upstream and downstream nations. Air pollution, especially PM 2.5 and PM 10, is one of the typical cases of transboundary environmental problems in the Northeast Asia. This paper analyzes the constraints of environmental cooperation between China and South Korea to address transboundary air pollution issue. It argues that lack of trust and ideological hostility, rather than, scientific uncertainty, is the biggest obstacle for effective cooperation, and these hostile discourses and ideas are mostly generated by media in the downstream nation, the South Korea. In order to identify how South Korean media frames this issue, this paper searched newspaper articles in the six representative South Korean newspapers during the period of 2014 and 2020, and analyzed about 2,000 articles selected. It finds that South Korean media has framed the transboundary air pollution as a China bashing and related domestic political cleavage issue, while it neglects to show the cooperation attempts that the two countries have made to date. Also, while the media focuses on China hate frame, it has never reported the Chinese government's domestic policies to reduce air pollution and their results. Media's overuse of hate and blame frames not only has disrupted trust building but also it will delay a possible turning point of environmental cooperation between the two countries in the future.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.329-339
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• 1993

Due to the global-convection currents, transboundary transport of air pollutants is widely observed in many regions of the world. This study was carried out to investigate the pattern of long-range transport of air pollutants in North East Asia, especially the impact of air pollutants originated in China and Japan on the air quality in Korea. From the meteorological data at the 850 mb surface from May 1986 through April 1987 at 54 obsevation stations in the North East Asia region, the backward and forward trajectories were calculated using interpolation method. And the contributions of pollution sources in neighbor countries to the air quality in Korea were analyzed. It was concluded that air pollution in China had a great influence on the air quality in Korea throughout the year : it could be transported to Korea just within 2 or 3 days most of the time. The trajectory analysis showed that pollution sources in Beijing. Liaoning Province, and Shandong Province, the most heavily industrialized areas in China., were the most influential for the air quality in Korea except for summer season. Durnig summer season, the air pollution in Shanhai and Japan could have moer influence on Korea. Such transboundary transport of air pollutants necessitate international cowork and cooperation in the region of North East Asia.

• Journal of environmental and Sanitary engineering
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.49-67
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• 1993

Rapid economic development and increase of energy consumption in east Asia including China, Korea and Japan has arisen a concern in air pollution problems in local and regional scale. Specially, China is accomplishing a success in continuous economic growth, while increasing energy consumption has caused a load to air quality because major energy source is coal which is relatively unfavorable in terms of air pollution. In this article, discussions have been given with the purpose of gaining some insight into the situation of air pollutant sources, air quality in China and transboundary transport of air pollutants in this area. Very limited information has caused insufficient survey, however, regional cooperation in environmental conservation may hopefully improve the air quality in this area.

• Environmental Sciences Bulletin of The Korean Environmental Sciences Society
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.111-116
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• 2000

Transboundary air pollution has recently become an area of increasing scientific interest and political concern as countries are receiving air pollutants from their neighbors. In order to gain a better understanding of the long-range transport processes of air pollutants and the source-receptor relationships among neighboring countries, an atmospheric transport model coupled with a RAMS(Regional Atmospheric Modeling System) model was applied to the East Asia region during the entire month of January 1993. The scalar transport option of the RAMS model was used to calculate special atmospheric constituents such as trace gases or aerosols. The sulfate production in clouds and rainwater and its removal processes by dry and wet deposition were considered. The sulfate budget from source regions to receptor regions was estimated by analysing the source-receptor relationships. When a specific receptor site revealed a sulfate value higher than the sulfate concentration based on its own source origin, this was taken to indicate long-range transport from another source region. The contribution ratio from various source region was calculated. The contribution ratio of dry and wet deposition was higher on the main continent of the East region. Furthermore, the high deposition amounts were identified on the west coast of Korea and the East China Sea.

• Proceedings of the Korea Air Pollution Research Association Conference
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• 2010.04a
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• pp.139-140
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• 2010

• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.57-83
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• 2017

The Japanese government's attempts to reduce fine particles (PM2.5) emission pollution in Japan have been largely ineffective. This is because PM2.5 in Japan originated from various sources including around half from oversea countries such as China. This prompts the Japanese government to start a new initiative to reduce PM2.5 at its origin by transferring local knowledge on air pollution reduction measures and technologies to China and working closely with the Chinese government. To promote further reduction in PM2.5, bilateral corporation between Japan and China should be extended to include Korea. It is recommended that an international convention should be in place to deal with transboundary air pollutants in East Asia. A successful East Asia corporation to reduce PM2.5 will not only contribute to clean air but also to future sustainable low carbon society in this region.

• Proceedings of the Korea Air Pollution Research Association Conference
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• 2005.11a
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• pp.364-365
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• 2005

• Proceedings of the Korea Air Pollution Research Association Conference
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• 2008.04a
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• pp.657-659
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• 2008

• Proceedings of the Korea Air Pollution Research Association Conference
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• 2004.05a
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• pp.221-221
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• 2004

• Proceedings of the Korea Air Pollution Research Association Conference
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• 2004.11a
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• pp.133-134
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• 2004