Kubuqi in Inner Mongolia is the nearest desert to the Korean Peninsula, and 40 percent of yellow dust storms that begin in the desert arrive in South Korea only two or three days later.

The government and businesses of South Korea sponsor a forestation project that aims to ease the expansion of the Kubuqi Desert and prevent yellow dust storms from moving eastward. The Communist Youth League of China is also actively participating in the forestation project.

Five million trees have been planted in the desert since 2006, turning 21 million square meters green.

More than 80 percent of the planted trees are surviving in Kubuqi, since groundwater flows under the dry surface of the land.

The forestation project is expected to greatly help protect the environment and boost relationships between South Korea and China.