The Yellow peril

Korea is currently in the midst of an invasion. Every year a ‘Yellow dust’ cloud passes from the deserts of Mongolia and Northern China over Eastern China, North and South Korea, Japan and has been known to spread as far east as the United States.
The dust, known in Korean as ‘Hwang-Sa (황사)’ is composed of fine, dry soil particles and is said to cause health problems, this results in many Koreans donning their almost trademark facemasks.

Hwang-Sa is such a health concern for the locals that a few days ago I was given 2 free face masks with a pair of jeans I purchased and a young girl on a bus asked me if I had a mask as the dust was coming.
The dust isn’t all bad news however as it’s also thought to enrich the soil of the effected regions and so the Yin-Yang (or Eum and Yang in Korea) balance is seemingly restored.

The first known record of an Asian Dust event in Korea was in 174 CE during the Silla Dynasty. The dust was known as "Woo-To (雨土)" and was believed at the time to be the result of an angry god sending down dust instead of rain or snow. Recently, South Korea and have participated in reforestation in an effort to reduce the problem but as yet has had little or no effect. In April 2006, South Korean meteorologists reported the worst yellow dust storm in four years and The Korea Herald recently reported that this year’s storms will be worse still in terms of severity and frequency.

Some say the storms are a result of Desertification. This is the degradation of land in arid, semi arid and dry sub-humid areas resulting from various factors including climatic variations, but primarily human activities.

I have resisted getting a mask up until now but seeing as I have spontaneously developed a cough I may have to reconsider.