The State of the Air Quality and Measures for Improving it in North Korea

Recently, concerns on the air quality in North Korea (NK) have been growing in South Korea (SK). However, the data on the state of the air quality are scarce with low reliability. In this study, the trends of the annual mean PM2.5 concentration weighted by population in NK by region were figured out. And major factors influencing the PM2.5 concentration, the status of the air quality management, ways to improve the air quality in NK were discussed. The effects of the coal-fired power plants, and the western and the southern parts of outside of NK to the PM2.5 concentration in NK were estimated about 13%, 25% and 27%, respectively. Based on the data produced by NK, the carbon intensity in 2000 was 4,872 kt/Mtoe, about 2.2 times of SK. Despite of low level of energy consumption in NK, at about 8% of that in SK in 2000, the emission amounts of carbon monoxide and sulfur oxides in 2000 were reported to be about 2.7 times higher than SK. The emission intensities of carbon monoxide and sulfur oxides in 2000 were calculated about 33 times higher than those in SK.