South Korea complains of Chinese air pollution

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ANKARA (AA) - South Korea on Thursday blamed China for worsening air pollution in the country.

Addressing a press conference in the South Korean capital Seoul, Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha, according to Yonhap news agency, said: "It's true that there's a cause (of fine dust) stemming from China."

A day before, South Korean President Moon Jae-in had called for joint efforts with China to combat the problem.

Over the past several months, South Korea has been facing severe air pollution with political parties mulling a declaration of "national disaster", said Yonhap.

Commenting on Moon’s statement on tackling air pollution, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said on Wednesday: "I do not know if there's sufficient ground (to say) that fine dust in South Korea has come from China.

"It looks like that there has been no fine dust in Beijing over the last two days when Seoul was blanketed by dense fine dust."

Lu said the two countries held talks between their environment ministers and discussed possible joint steps against the fine dust.

He added: "The cause (of fine dust) is very complicated. Comprehensive handling should be based on a scientific attitude."