“We already have global technical skills in hydrogen industry as we became the first country to commercialize hydrogen cars.” said President Moon Jae-in on the 5th. “Our goal is to be the top country in hydrogen vehicle and fuel cell industries by 2030.”

“Hydrogen bus and hydrogen charging station are very important challenges for all of us.” said President Moon during his congratulatory message for commemoration of the 24th Environment Day that was held at Changwon Convention Center on the 5th.

“Not only does hydrogen bus cause zero fine dust, one hydrogen bus has an effect of purifying 420,000kg of air annually.” said President Moon while explaining that Changwon is the first city to introduce hydrogen bus. “This amount is equivalent to amount of air 76 adults take in one year.”

President Moon stated that amount of discharge of fine dust will be reduced by 30% in 2022 compared to the amount in 2016. He also talked about efforts that South Korean Government has put in for the past two years to resolve fine dust issue.

“We elevated fine dust standards to the level of other advanced countries and we established a system that inspects and forecasts fine dust daily.” said President Moon.

“We are requiring facilities and construction sites that discharge fine dust to make improvements whenever there is high concentration of fine dust.” said President Moon. “We also changed paradigm of our policies from ‘post-action’ to ‘prevention’.”

“We closed down four old power plants out of ten power plants and stopped operating 52 plants out of 60 plants during this past spring. By doing so, we reduced amount of fine dust discharged by coal-fired thermal power plants by more than 25% compared to 2016.” said President Moon while pointing old coal-fired thermal power plants as major causes of fine dust.

“We are going to scrap one million old diesel cars in advance by 2021 and quickly expand propagation of eco-friendly cars.” said President Moon regarding possible solutions for fine dust issue in transportation areas. “We are planning to have 430,000 electric vehicles and 67,000 hydrogen vehicles on the road by 2022 through expansion of charging infrastructures.”

President Moon reminded once again that supplemental budget bill that was submitted to the National Assembly includes budget related to policies on fine dust. He urged the National Assembly to process the supplemental budget bill

“We currently have $1.23 billion (1.4517 trillion KRW) in budget related to fine dust.” said President Moon. “We are planning to invest $661 million (780 billion KRW) in reducing major sources of discharge of fine dust and $305 million (360 billion KRW) into promoting eco-friendly industries.”

“We are planning to use $186 million (220 billion KRW) to install masks and air purifiers for laborers who work long hours outside, low-income families, and children and elders.” said President Moon. “I earnestly ask for cooperation from the National Assembly once again.”

“We cannot solve environmental problems with single solution.” said President Moon. “I hope that one step we take today will lead to blue sky and clean air for kids in the near future.”

Staff Reporter Sung, Hyunhee | sunghh@etnews.com