I Can't Breathe!

A four-year-old boy and his first day of kindergarten: He has waited eagerly for this, watching with anticipation as his cousins leave the house each day, bags on their backs, bows at the front door and off into the big wide world.

Finally, the day arrives. He wakes early, filled with both excitement and trepidation. His clothes, some of them sent from the U.K. by his grandmother and uncle, are neatly laid out. Eggs and strawberries are on the table for breakfast.

Yet with it there is a message from the government. Sent to all citizens and arriving now via smartphones with an all too familiar din heard in houses, classrooms and subway cars.

It instructs the people of South Korea that all elderly people and children are not to go outside.

But it's not the commies that will get you. It's not the nuclear bombs, not the terrorists, not the contrails nor flat-earthers. Now it's the very air that you breathe.

The thing upon which humans rely and strive is now seemingly that which may prove our undoing.

Just as South Korea grew to prosperity through the qualities of competition and hard work, now those very same values seem to be suffocating many.

But this is not a dystopian novel or a post-apocalyptic computer game with super mutants and infected zombies. This is South Korea in 2019. This is the country that just a year ago held the Winter Olympics.

This is a country recently voted the ninth healthiest country in the world, according to the latest Global Wellness Index. Canada, incidentally, came top, which reminds me it's probably time to go and re-watch some old "Trailer Park Boys" episodes.

Domestically, about 74 percent of middle and high schools are not equipped with air purifiers here in South Korea, something causing great consternation among parents as they watch their beloveds traipse out the door every morning, some still wearing their winter long padding jackets as protection against the outside.

Some have even claimed that they are thinking of leaving the country because of the deteriorating air conditions and subsequent effects it might have on the respiratory systems of their children.

Social media has been testament to the severity of the situation. British diplomat Philip Kendall has been seen sporting a black mask on his trips around Seoul while historian Robert Neff regularly plays a game of "how far across the city can we see today?" on his jaunts along the Han River.

Twitter, however, has seen those based in America, but...