Seoul, Feb 23 (IANS): South Korea was Monday hit by the heaviest yellow dust in five years with meteorological authorities issuing warnings and advisories.

The dust warnings were issued in Seoul, Incheon, Gyeonggi province and parts of Gangwon province, Xinhua reported, citing the Korea Meteorological Administration.

The advisories were issued for most other parts of the country.

The warnings were issued as a fine dust concentration of over 800 micrograms per cubic metre was expected to last for more than two hours. A dust concentration of over 400 micrograms per cubic metre leads to dust advisories being issued.

The concentration of atmospheric "particulate matter (PM)-10", which measures fine dust concentration, surged to 1,044 micrograms per cubic metre in Seoul as of 4 a.m., the highest since Dec 25, 2009, when a concentration of 963 micrograms per cubic metre was recorded. PM-10 refers to airborne particles less than 10 micrometres in diameter.

The wind is expected to stay until Tuesday.