An alarming number, more than half of the citizen's in South Korea are regularly breathing dangerously polluted air, which is producing serious health effects for the highly urbanized nation. In 2013, more than 20,000 premature deaths were blamed on the country’s foul air. On an average day, 25 million South Koreans inhale an unsafe amount of microscopic particles of various sizes. These particles get lodged in people’s lungs and other cardiovascular tissues, enter their bloodstreams, and over time they can lead to lower respiratory infections, heart disease, lung disease, and cancer. Even suicides in Korea have been empirically linked to particulate matter and other concentrations of air pollutants like tropospheric ozone.
This is an ongoing problem on the peninsula even as tensions between the South and North continue to rise. It seems as if the true terrorists are ourselves when we are producing these kind of pollutants into the air and hurting future generations. If we are on the brink of another Korean War on the peninsula, air quality is only going to get worse.
Reference:
http://datadriven.yale.edu/air-quality-2/air-pollutions-hazy-future-in-south-korea-2/
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