Asia & Pacific
People shelter from the heat under umbrellas in Seoul on August 4, 2026. South Korea's summer heat has killed 16 people so far this year, the interior ministry said August 4, as the nation swelters in a wave of searing weather. (AFP/Greg Baker)
South Korea's heatwave is expected to peak over Seoul on Thursday, with the capital forecast to hit 39 degrees Celsius in a spell of extreme weather already blamed for more than 20 deaths."Extreme heat on a scale we have never experienced is continuing day after day. Heatwave conditions once seen only in foreign news reports have now become our reality," President Lee Jae Myung told a heatwave response meeting on Thursday, Reuters reported.
Lee ordered ministries and local governments to mobilize all available personnel and resources until the heatwave eases, stressing protection of lives and safety, stronger safeguards for vulnerable residents and stricter enforcement of rest breaks for outdoor workers during the hottest hours.
The forecast temperature would bring Seoul close to its record high of 39.6 C, set in August 2018, during the country's last historic heatwave.
