Korean Air Pollution
During the early years of Korea’s economic rise, the government paid little or no attention to the environment. The economic development started in the 70’s with Korea’s five year economic development plan. Korea became a leading steelmaker and shipbuilder. This created rapid industrialization and Korea started pumping out more and more products. Cars, computers and other products were flowing out of Korea’s factories and with it millions of tons of sulfur dioxide. Consequently, acid rain started to fall over Korea and started to dissolve it’s delicate ecosystem. Although some of the air pollution is generated by Korea, a large percentage also comes from the worlds’ largest greenhouse gas producer; China. The pollution is blown from China with the wind currents toward Korea. The problem has grown so bad that plants that only grow in heavily polluted areas have begun to sprout up in Seoul. Recently, the Capital city of Seoul is starting to take steps toward a cleaner, greener future, but many companies lack the technology to install desulferizing filters and reduce greenhouse gases. The Korean factories are trying to gain access to these technologies, but this takes time and progress is slow.
South Korean Deforestation
During the Korean war and the Japanese colonization, Korea’s forest was shattered. However, during the 70’s and 80’s the people of South Korea came together and started one of the best executed reforestation efforts in the world. This effort was started to provide a steady domestic supply of timber and for the growing agricultural industry. But South Korea has changed. More than half of its population lives in cities, and these cities are growing rapidly. Together with the exponentially growing agricultural industry, the forest is being pushed further and further back. In fact, South Korea lost 12.8% of forest between 1990 and 2005. The future of this issue is uncertain, but the future looks positive for this issue because of new public awareness programs.
