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Toxic dust storm hits South Korea

South Korea closed schools yesterday and its factories producing memory chips stepped up safeguards as a choking pall of sand mixed with toxic dust from China covered most of the country and other parts of Asia.

The annual "yellow dust" spring storms, which originate in the Gobi Desert in China before sweeping south to envelop the Korean Peninsula and parts of Japan, are blamed for scores of deaths and billions of dollars in damage every year in South Korea.

Seoul issued a yellow dust warning at the weekend. Yesterday, school districts in southeastern regions urged parents to keep kindergarten and elementary school children at home.

"We advised the closure because kindergarten, primary school students have weaker immune systems," said Min Eyu-gi, an education official in Busan.

An official with the Meteorological Administration said the first major storm of the season, which has also hit parts of Japan, was dissipating.

But forecasts from China said cold air and little rainfall would lead to more storms from tomorrow through next Tuesday, Xinhua news agency reported.

Taiwan mostly avoided the toxic clouds, but skies in Taipei yesterday were overcast, with the government telling people to wear surgical masks and avoid exercising outdoors.

In Japan, car drivers and train operators were asked to be on alert because the sandstorms had greatly reduced visibility.

Japanese Environment Minister Ichiro Kamoshita recently called on Beijing to disclose data on the yellow sand.

"About yellow sand, I am not quite sure how and why it can be regarded as a national secret," Kamoshita told a press conference last month.

"Air is connected beyond national borders and yellow sand travels beyond borders. I think it is important we share information," he said.

The sand storms have increased in frequency and toxicity over the years because of China's rapid economic growth and have added to growing tensions with its neighbors South Korea and Japan.

The dust picks up heavy metals and carcinogens, such as dioxin, as it passes over Chinese industrial regions, before hitting North and South Korea and Japan, meteorologists say.

Dry weather and seasonal winds in China hurl millions of tonnes of sand at the Korean Peninsula and Japan from late February through April or May, turning the skies to a jaundiced hue.

The state-sponsored Korea Environment Institute said the dust kills up to 165 South Koreans a year, mostly the elderly or those with respiratory ailments and makes as many as 1.8 million ill.

Annual economic damage to South Korea from the storms is estimated at up to 5.5 trillion won (US$5.82 billion), the institute said.

Hynix Semiconductor Inc, the world's second-largest maker of memory chips, said it had stepped up its filtration systems and made employees take longer air showers to make sure the dust does not contaminate its production lines and damage chips, which are made using technology that operates on a microscopic level.

South Korean retailers, however, have spotted an opportunity, offering special scarves, hats and other accessories for the yellow dust season.

Also see: Feared dust cloud not as severe as forecast, says EPA
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