South Korea’s national assembly asks Oman, Bahrain for urea solution amid supply crisis

Seoul, Nov 28 (FN Agency) South Korean National Assembly speaker Park Byeong-seug met with the chairman of Oman’s consultative assembly, Khalid bin Hilal Al Mawali, and the speaker of Bahrain’s Council of Representatives, Fawzia bint Abdulla Zainal, on the sidelines of the 143rd Inter-Parliamentary Union Assembly in Madrid on Sunday and asked for urea solution imports amid a crisis being faced by South Korea, official Yonhap news agency reported. South Korea relies almost exclusively on urea solution imports from China, which stopped overseas shipments of the fluid.

The chemical is an emissions-control solution for diesel vehicles. According to the agency, both Oman and Bahrain were keen about the request. China introduced export restrictions on urea solution amid domestic coal shortage. Urea is made of ammonia, which in turn is made of coal or natural gas. Estimates show that around 4 million diesel cars in South Korea need urea to function, 2 million of those are cargo trucks. If the country does not receive the chemical solution, it could face high shortages in cargo delivery.