Korea, China Reach Sand Agreement

With the official agreement of Korea and China for a joint inspection on China’s projects on the prevention of yellow sand, a new way has opened up for Korea to actively tackle China’s yellow sand problem.

The Board of Audit and Inspection of Korea announced Monday that it concluded the “Promotion Agreement on Joint Inspection” with the inspection board of China on Wednesday. According to the agreement, Korea and China will each complete inspections of their own country’s government policy and projects on the prevention of yellow sand by the end of the year.

Korea is going to inspect whether the over 10 billion won fund provided to China for various kinds of yellow sand prevention projects is appropriately executed, and through this, it will be able to induce an effective operation of the projects in the future.

So far, Korea has financially supported China’s projects with 9.975 billion won (excluding the allotment for the northeast Asian yellow sand prevention campaign involving China and Japan), but it was almost impossible for Korea to track down the execution of the fund in China.

The inspection board of China, in particular, has agreed to conduct an inspection on the overall yellow sand prevention businesses in China for the first time ever, including the ones that receive financial support from Korea. Thus, a positive ripple effect, such as a raise in the awareness of the Chinese policymakers on the yellow sand issue, is expected.

According to the agreement, the Board of Audit and Inspection of Korea and the inspection board of China will mainly inspect the investigation on yellow sand development and damage, the reduction measures for yellow sand damage and the prevention system, and an analysis of the achievements of international business cooperation in relation to yellow sand. Also, ahead of drawing up the inspection report, the Chinese inspection team will visit the Board of Audit and Inspection of Korea to discuss the inspection results.

They also agreed to independently decide on the actual inspection period, the starting point, and the inspection subjects, but will cooperate to the fullest in terms of sharing the inspection documents and information. In regard to this, the Board of Audit and Inspection of Korea is planning to visit the inspection of the Chinese team on the yellow sand prevention project within the country.

An official from the Board of Audit and Inspection of Korea said, “It is a rare case for two countries to jointly conduct inspections, and the ‘yellow sand inspection’ is the first of its kind in Asia. The inspection is also a kind of preparation for the future Yellow Sea conservation policy and for the fields of international inspections, such as electronic commerce.”

Kang-Myoung Chang tesomiom@donga.com