A monitoring system to measure levels of particulate pollution will be installed near the Demilitarized Zone that separates North and South Korea to analyze the amount of toxic pollutants coming from China and North Korea, the government said Tuesday. 

The Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of National Defense signed a memorandum of understanding to reduce particulate pollution earlier in the day.

Under the memorandum, the ministries will work together to analyze the amount of emissions from military bases, collect data and draw measures to reduce fine dust. 

The Environment Ministry will assist the Defense Ministry in installing electric vehicle charging stations and developing dust-reduction devices for military facilities and equipment, according to the memo.

The Defense Ministry plans to replace old diesel buses, trucks and other military vehicles manufactured before 2005 with new ones by the end of this year.

It will also implement measures to better protect the health of military personnel -- including installing more air purifiers at the barracks and offices, and distributing masks when levels of particulate pollution are high.

“The source of fine dust in the military will be more effectively and systematically addressed as we will identify the situation of fine dust emissions such as military vehicles, boilers and other sites causing emissions,” Environment Minister Cho Myung-rae said.

(laeticia.ock@heraldcorp.com)