S. Korea eyes climate monitoring posts on easternmost islands

SEOUL, Aug. 3 (Yonhap) -- South Korea will build climate monitoring stations on its two easternmost islands to help detect materials causing climate change, the finance ministry said Wednesday.
The facilities will be built on Ulleungdo and Dokdo to monitor about 20 greenhouse gases and other climate change-causing materials in the air, according to the Ministry of Strategy and Finance.
The plan is in line with the recommendation by the World Meteorological Organization to operate monitoring posts in high-altitude areas or islands located far away from the mainland to help detect and analyze the movement of environmentally-harmful materials, the ministry said.
South Korea currently runs such facilities in the nation's western island of Anmyeon and the southern resort island of Jeju.
The ministry said that it has set aside 1.69 billion won (US$1.59 million) to build the new observation posts. The Korea Meteorological Administration requested the funding.
"What would be gleaned from Ulleungdo and Dokdo will be used as important data in monitoring climate change not just in Asia but also in the world," a ministry official said.
The decision comes after the two islands have been brought into the spotlight recently due to Japan's renewed claim to Dokdo. In its latest defense white paper released Tuesday, Japan again laid claim to the rocky outcroppings.
Three Japanese lawmakers also caused an uproar on Monday by trying to visit Ulleungdo, located 90 kilometers west of Dokdo, in what many here suspect as an attempt to renew the territorial claims. South Korea denied their entry and held them in the airport until they returned to Japan.