12-27% of the nitrogen oxide found in the atmosphere above Korea is from China, carried regularly by the East Wind, according to a survey by the Environmental Institute. In other figures released Wednesday it was learned that 22-24% of the sulphur dioxide found in Korea's atmosphere is also from China.
The institute said it collected its information in a survey that began in March of last year along the Western Sea. An aircraft flew the 220 km route from Kimpo Airport to Kwangju Airport a total of five times, flying one km above sea level. The aircraft moved out to sea by one km on each of its five flights to collect atmospheric samples. But the institute said it due to a lack of sample data, it lacked concrete evidence to support its claims and needs to study more to determine if the pollutants will continue on their journey to Japan, or drop to the ground in Korea by rain and snow fall.