The central government and provincial authorities held an emergency meeting to inspect the fine dust situation and examined plans on reducing air pollution.

The Ministry of Environment said the emergency disaster response meeting chaired by Minister Cho Myung-rae was held Saturday at the government complex in Sejong City attended by officials from local governments and related ministries and agencies.

Officials shared plans on implementing fine dust reduction measures such as street cleanups and reducing emissions at business and construction sites. They also discussed ways to better protect the public's health.

Minister Cho asked agencies to fulfill their disaster response duties, maintain inter-agency communication at all times and for agency heads to be active in conducting field inspections.

He urged officials not to lower their guard as high density fine dust concentration can occur any time depending on climate conditions such as air stagnation.

He stressed the government must do its best until air quality is improved to a level that's tangibly felt by the public.