Most of South Korea is choking under its longest-ever spell of fine dust pollution.
The South Korean government is enforced emergency measures... for a record sixth-consecutive day on this Wednesday.
Park Ji-won has more.
The South Korean government has decided to maintain its emergency fine dust reduction measures on Wednesday,... for the sixth-consecutive day.
This is the longest-ever length of time that such measures have been in effect... in South Korea's history.
With the nation's air quality at worst-ever levels,... hundreds of petitions have been submitted to the bulletin board on the website of the Presidential Office of Cheong Wa Dae.
Most of the petitions urged the government to consult with the Chinese government to resolve the issue,... as China is considered one of the main sources of the nation's air pollutants.
Petitions also called for the government to provide financial subsidies... for the purchase of air purifiers and other necessary products to deal with the poor air.
Against this backdrop, the South Korean government held an emergency vice ministerial level meeting to address the matter on Tuesday.
Senior officials from the nation's trade, industry and energy ministry, labor ministry, environment ministry as well as welfare ministry... joined a video conference between Seoul and the administrative city of Sejong.
The meeting examined whether the fine dust reduction measures have been working properly,.. and what more can be done to tackle the air pollution problem.
The participants vowed... the government will consider every option at its disposal to resolve the matter.
Meanwhile, the nation's environment minister Cho Myung-rae also said Tuesday during a meeting with reporters,... the ministry is considering imposing stronger vehicle restrictions,.. to improve air conditions.
Under the measures,... vehicles with odd-number license plates will not be allowed on the roads on even-numbered dates... and vice versa.
Cho added that China and South Korea have recently agreed to exchange fine dust data,.. and to derive possible solutions based on scientific studies.
The environment minister said Beijing has acknowledged... that fine dust from China is partially responsible for the air pollution in South Korea.
He also emphasized,... a bill has been submitted to the National Assembly, to classify fine dust as a social disaster.
If the bill is passed by parliament, Cho said stronger protective measures could be enforced.
Park Ji-won, Arirang News.