Korean Job Discussion Forums

SPINOZA · Joined: 10 Jun 2005 Location: $eoul

I was walking down the street with someone yesterday morning, talking about Seoul.

It was foggy in the morning and cloudy but it cleared in the afternoon - visibility drastically improved (could now see the mountains clearly, sharply as opposed to hardly at all in the morning).

The person I was with thought the fog was air pollution. Are you totally insane, I thought? If that was smog/air pollution you wouldn't be able to breathe!

People whine about "the pollution" a lot, mistaking weather phenomena for pollution. Seoul's pretty hazy. But surely it's the weather? Otherwise it'd be there all the time and wouldn't suddenly and mysteriously disappear.

However, I'm not saying the air quality in Seoul is wonderful. In a metropolis of over 20 million people and Heaven-knows-how-many cars, there's gonna be a lot of carbon dioxide emisions amongst other things. But it seems to me that people who get a job and live in Seoul and whine about the pollution should've gone to work in a sleepy village instead.

This is a serious inquiry. Is Seoul any more polluted than a vaguely comparable city? (Tokyo, LA) Why or why not? I don't notice bad air quality (and I'm from somewhere where air pollution is minimal thanks to cleaner cars). What is criterion for judging air quality as poor or polluted - do you cough, can you smell it?

Jeju Rocks · Joined: 23 Aug 2004

I flew in and out of Seoul last Monday. It was a sunny day. Leaving at about 4:30 after take off you could see a brown haze over the city.

fancypants · Joined: 22 May 2005

here's a study on air quality of asian megacities:

http://www.asiairnet.org/seoulreport.asp

igotthisguitar · Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2006 9:15 am Post subject:

Yah ... it can pretty bad sometimes alright.

I never go outside without my mask either on my face or in a pocket,
and we're not talking about Seoul here either, dude Shocked

Sofa_King · Joined: 03 Mar 2005 Location: South Korea

I've only been in Korea for 18 months, but from what I've seen, the air quality is fairly decent in the winter but it gets pretty bad in the summer. Also, the yellow dust during the spring was hard for me to adapt to. But I've only been here for 18 months.

Maybe some of the vets here on the board could post and share their opinions. Does the air quality get really bad in the summer??

Homer · Guest

Down in Busan I find the air quality varies greatly from area to area (and is affected by summer heat).

I lived in Gaegum for a couple of years and that was bad as there are highways and train tracks there.

In Haeundae and Kwanganglee the air is not bad at all (it remains big city air however, cannot escape that!) and is not as bad as the area I lived in in TO as a kid.

I found Seoul to follow the same logic (variance according to area of the city).

You also have to factor in time of day, i.e. high traffic time spans (rush hour) where air quality will invariably be affected.

VanIslander · Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2006 7:26 am Post subject:

weatherman · Joined: 14 Jan 2003 Location: Korea

Lemonade · Joined: 04 Jan 2006 Location: South Korea

If you think Seoul has bad air pollution, try driving all over the inner city of Detroit, especially near the waste treatment facilities. Talk about STANK!

memorabilis · Joined: 19 Jan 2006 Location: Seoul, Korea

Try sucking on the end of a Bangalorean autorickshaw's exhaust pipe for a year and then come talk about pollution!

This city has 20 million people, and I think it's probably less polluted than Ottawa with 650 000.

No big deal here.

Bulsajo · Joined: 16 Jan 2003

How many cars in Seoul?
Yeah, it's polluted, but not nearly as much as it could be.

numazawa · Joined: 20 Mar 2005 Location: The Concrete Barnyard

RACETRAITOR · Joined: 24 Oct 2005 Location: Seoul, South Korea

It's certainly cleaner than anything in China.