In recent years, some people in South Korea have often “blame” China about air pollution, and even some people have filed lawsuits against the Chinese government. On the 11th, a lawsuit brought by South Korean folk against the Chinese and South Korean government about air pollution three years ago was fruitioned. The Central District Court of Seoul, South Korea, ruled that the plaintiff lost the lawsuit.
According to a Yonhap News Agency on the 11th, on the same day, the South Korean court rejected the plaintiff’s lawsuit against the South Korean government and made a decision not to accept the plaintiff’s lawsuit against the Chinese government.
In May 2017, more than 90 people, including Choi Ye, a representative of the South Korean civic group “Environment Consortium”, and Kim Sung-hoon, a former Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, filed a lawsuit against the South Korean and the Chinese governments, claiming an amount of 3 million won each.
The plaintiff claimed that the Chinese government failed to fulfill its obligations to manage pollutants, while the South Korean government neglected its obligations to find out the cause of haze weather and protect the right to national safety and happiness.
The South Korean government has refuted this, saying that it has made unremitting efforts to find out the cause of haze and formulate countermeasures. Because the facts and evidence of victimization presented by the plaintiff are not specific enough, the government cannot bear legal responsibility for it.
In recent years, South Korea has been fighting air pollution. In February 2019, the Ministry of Environment of Korea began to implement the Special Law on the Reduction and Management of Inhalable Particulate Matter Emissions, which is committed to combating air pollution, including haze, through various measures such as reducing air pollution emissions and vehicle traffic restrictions.
However, it is worth noting that on the issue of air pollution, China has frequently become the main target of some political and private people in South Korea.
The South China Morning Post reported last year that some South Koreans took it for granted that South Korea’s air pollutants were brought from Mongolia and China by prevailing winds, and they also claimed that “the increase in Chinese industrial pollutants and desertification have aggravated South Korea’s pollution”.
Earlier last year, Park Won-soon, then mayor of Seoul, also claimed that according to the conclusion of environmental researchers in the country, “China is responsible for 50% to 60% of South Korea’s pollution”.
South Korean media reports that many South Koreans believe that 83% of the cause of domestic haze originated in China. Last year, experts from China, Japan and South Korea jointly studied the air pollutants for the first time. The three governments jointly inspected the results of the study and released a report.
The report said that the fine dust from South Korea from China has been greatly reduced. Since 2013, China’s fine dust release has fallen by half. 51% of South Korea’s air pollutants come from their own territory, only 32% come from China, and the rest come from Japan, North Korea, Mongolia and other places.
Some people in South Korea also pointed out that it is inappropriate to blame China for air pollution, and South Korea should pay attention to its own problems.
According to the BBC, Lee Ji-eon from the Korean non-profit organization KFEM said that “blaming others will never solve the problem” and that if South Korea asks China to take action, it must first solve its own problems.
“For example, we clearly know that the main source of urban dust is diesel vehicles, but the total number of diesel vehicles is increasing, which is a clear sign of policy failure. Li Zhi’an said.
In March 2019, Lu Kang, then spokesman of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stressed that in recent years, many countries have paid great attention to the cause of haze and realized that this cause is very complex.
For the cause of (haze) and how to deal with it, we need to have a scientific attitude. If everyone can form cooperation, it is of course very good.
