South Korea and China have set up joint observatories in China to monitor and issue an early alert of the seasonal plague of yellow sandstorms that blow from the Chinese continent and blanket the Korean peninsula in spring.

South Korean officials said that five joint observatories were established in the region of the storm's origin in China and other locales lining the yellow dust winds' course.

The monitoring centers, funded by the South Korean foreign ministry, went into operations earlier this month.

Also, staff members from the Korea Meteorological Administration have been dispatched to China's state weather bureau for related joint operations.