Walk down any street in Seoul, and you'll see clusters of people wearing white masks. Steam in their eyeglasses nor the sizzling sun can stop them from clinging to the white masks as if their life is dependent on them. Though Koreans wearing masks on sunny days is not new due to the yellow dust that pestered the country for decades, now they are wearing them for a different reason. The comparatively large yellow dust now lost its color, shrunk in size, and came back as a first degree carcinogenic material: particulate matter (fine dust).

             Also known as 'silent killers', particulate matter is microscopically small solid particles or liquid droplets that are suspended in the air. The smaller it is, the more it can go deeper into our bodies. PM10, which is 10 microns in diameter, is one fifth the diameter of our hair while PM2.5 is one-twentieth of our hair; both are too small for organs of the respiratory system to filter. High concentrations of particulate matter in the body can cause lung irrigation, chronic bronchitis, heart attacks, and even premature death. Due to its detrimental health effects, all five major presidential candidates for Korea's 19^th presidential election greatly emphasized their grand plans to eliminate fine dust out of our lives and follow Article 35 of the Korean Constitution, stating that every citizen has the right to pursue health.

             However, out of more than twenty minor policies that President Moon promised during the election, only two has been enacted. Though it has only been a year since the election, not carrying out a single policy that he promised to implement immediately after his inauguration is viewed as disappointing. Due to the delay, the only direct source of help that the citizens are receiving is text messages warning that the fine dust level is 'severe.' However, even this has controversy.

             The problem stems from the government's fine dust levels. WHO(World Health Organization) set 31~50㎍/㎥

as 'average'whereas the Korean government allowed the numbers to reach 80㎍/㎥ for the same category; while WHO set 51~100 ㎍/㎥ as 'bad', the Korean government has 81~150㎍/㎥ under the same category. Regarding the detrimental effects fine dust can bring when people are exposed to it unaided, it seems extremely illogical to deceive the public that the dust outside is 'average when the rest of the world would warn their citizens that it is 'bad'. When asked about this, Korea Environment Corporation's response to this irony was enough to dumbfound the public.

"f we follow the WHO standards, we would have to warn our citizens every day."

In short, whoever made the policy chose to be extremely generous and deceive the public so that they can go outside without concerns. These dangerously generous standards are pushing the public to expose themselves to carcinogens without proper preparation and acknowledgment.

Before President Moon actually begins to start implementing his grand plans to eliminate fine dust in Korea, which recently ranked sixth in world's worst air, the government should focus on properly informing the public about the severity and the consequences. Legislations, guidelines, and infrastructure, though urgent and definitely one of the major causes of weak policies, can come later. First, we must let the citizens know.