With the ultra-fine dust hanging in the air this spring and summer, respiratory health is a huge concern for people here in Korea.
And those worries are well-justified... as a recent study shows air pollution kills around 14-thousand people in Korea every year.
Park Ji-won reports.
During a seminar in Seoul, organized by the Institute for Climate Change Action,... the results of several studies were released,... including one that says, because of air pollution, around 14-thousand more people in Korea die every year.
Professor Cheong Hae-kwan of Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine,... quoted last year's joint study by his school and the environment ministry,... claiming that nearly 14-thousand people died in Korea in 2013,.... due to air pollution.
This figure is four-point-five percent of the total number of deaths that year,... meaning that one in twenty deaths in 2013 was caused by air pollution.
The study showed air pollution, including ozone and fine dust particles,... affects multiple organs and has long-term consequences,... including lung cancer,... pneumonia, heart attacks and strokes.
A similar study conducted last year by the OECD also forecasts that the number of premature deaths in Korea,... will be the highest among OECD countries in some 40 years.
The paper estimated that by 2060,... about 11-hundred out of every million people would die due to air pollution,... which is three-times greater than the figure in 2010.
Park Ji-won, Arirang News.
