South Korea hits all-time heat record 42.5C in Yangsan, Seoul gets first-ever severe heat wave warning
South Korea's Yangsan hit 42.5C Sunday, the highest temperature in the country's 122 years of weather records. President Lee Jae-myung declared the heatwave a national disaster Tuesday after 19 deaths, and Seoul just received its first-ever severe heat wave warning. Per Korea Her
South Korea recorded its highest temperature in 122 years of weather measurement on Sunday, 42.5 degrees Celsius in the southeastern city of Yangsan, according to the Korea Herald. President Lee Jae-myung declared the heatwave a national disaster on Tuesday, with the death toll from heat-related causes at 19. The capital region had largely been spared the worst of the heat through the summer. That changed this week: Seoul received its first-ever severe heat wave warning from the Korea Meteorological Administration, the agency's highest alert level, which calls for an immediate halt to outdoor work. South Korea's Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters also raised its heat response to Level 2, only the second time that tier has been activated since extreme heat was legally classified as a natural disaster in 2018. The shift matters because South Korea's emergency heat infrastructure, cooling shelters, outdoor work bans, water distribution, was built around protecting the rural south, where farm workers and the elderly are most exposed. With the same warning level now covering greater Seoul, authorities are extending those protections to a dense urban population that has rarely faced this level of alert. Sources: Korea Herald, AP.