North Korea, with a population of 30 million people, has one of the worst air pollution problems in the world. The photo below shows in the background the reason for the pollution - two large smokestacks emanating coal dust.
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| Coal dust accounts for most of North Korea's air pollution |
Their air pollution is so bad that their quality of air is rated as unacceptable, by every country that measures air pollution.
There are several reasons for this.
1. North Korea relies on coal for power which creates smog in their air.
2. Their public transportation runs 24/7 and none of their vehicles are eco-friendly.
3. They have chopped down over half of their forests to use for food, firewood and paper products so there are very few trees left in their forests. They have not replanted any trees in over 30 years to replace what they chopped down.
4. The water in their lakes, rivers, and streams are polluted by waste.
5. Their crops are tainted from smog, coal, and other pollutants making it barely edible.
The North Korean government promised to rebuild forests by planting millions of trees but they would have to get the trees from other countries. Asking for outside help is not their strong point.
Because they know how bad it is, they don't allow photographs, even for research and any photos we see in publications or on the news were likely obtained illegally.
DEATH RATES IN NEARBY COUNTRIES
In South Korea, the air pollution problem has contributed to deaths of 23.2 of every 100,000 citizens compared to North Korea's 238 per 100,000 citizens.
China and Japan are two neighboring countries with much higher populations and far more industrial areas. China attributes 161 deaths of every 100,000 citizens and Japan says there are 24 deaths of every 100,000 citizens.
Why should other countries care about North Korea's air pollution problem?
Because of the air quality and ground pollution, diseases like COPD, lung cancer and other respiratory diseases are killing North Korean citizens. Coal is cheap, but it is a dirty way to supply energy.
Until they find new ways of getting their power and decent crops to feed their people, things aren't going to get better in their country.
The reason why other countries should care about the country's problem is because sooner as opposed to later, North Korea citizens are going to need decades and decades of outside humanitarian, medical, and financial aid to put a dent in solving their problem, including both paid and volunteer help, and imported food, eco-friendly vehicles, paper products, and other items.
Scientists and ecologists have estimated that since it took 30 years for North Korea to get into this mess, that it will take double, if not triple that amount of time for them to recover from it.
This conservative estimate takes into consideration the time to replant their forests, to create ways to provide clean fuel for use in homes and factories, to replace coal, and to plant and harvest crops which for the first few years will have to be destroyed because the ground won't produce safe edible food.
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