반기문, "특단의 조치로 미세먼지와의 전쟁에 임해야"
The new anti-pollution government orgnization will soon kick off to tackle the issue of the country's bad air pollution.
Heading that team directly attached to the presidential office is ex UN chief Ban Ki-moon.
Shin Se-min tells us more.
Like going to war... is how the head of the new government organization described his resolve to fight the fine dust pollution cloaking the nation.
Former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who accepted the presidential's offer to run the new anti-pollution organization, said that despite concerns about taking the job... he could not sit back and watch the Korean people suffocate.
"I don't have a solution to the problem yet. But we can settle this if we can accurately assess the source of the problem, find a solution and carry it out."
He then called on individuals, business, politicians and the government to do their part in making the air more breathable.
And he said that it's important to first scientifically identify the sources, both local and overseas,... and then find targeted solutions.
But he said the new organization can't do it alone.
"All parts of the government have to fight this war with determination. As we take on the dust, there can be no ideology, factions or borders."
A significant part of the fine dust in Korea blows over from China, though it also produces its own... at coal power plants and from diesel cars.
It's even become a political and economic issue... and has been officially designated a "social disaster" to free up state funds to deal with it.
A local economic think tank has found that fine dust costs the nation some 3-point-7 billion U.S. dollars last year,... taking up two tenths of a percent of its GDP.
"It's hoped by all that the new organization will find a way to make the air more breatheable... even if that means Ban Ki-Moon has to pull all the strings he acquired in his years running the UN.
Shin Se-min, Arirang News."
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