N. Korea has severe pollution, says report
NAIROBI: North Korea has “very severe environmental challenges,'' including extensively damaged forests, highly polluted rivers and soot-filled air, the head of the UN Environment Programme said yesterday.
In the first-ever report on the state of the environment in North Korea, researchers found that factories and sewage plants were dumping untreated waste and toxins into the country's rivers and coal-fired electricity generating plants were polluting the air to dangerous levels.
Klaus Toepfer, the executive director of the Nairobi-based UN Environment Programme, said that while the damage was extensive, the North Korean government has committed itself to co-operating with neighbouring countries and the United Nations to start improving the situation.
“The most important consequence for me ... is that there is a full dedication for co-operation and that there is a full understanding that there must be done more for the environment,'' Toepfer said.
North Korean officials signed an agreement yesterday to co-operate more with the UN Environment Programme in the future, but the officials left without answering any questions from the media. Toepfer said they told him they did not want to participate in a press conference that followed the signing. – AFP
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