South Korea’s Lee calls heatwave national disaster, deaths rise to 19

Authorities issued a heatwave warning for all of Seoul on Tuesday while the city of Yangsan recorded 42.5 degrees Celsius on Sunday

Speaking at a cabinet meeting, Lee ordered officials to take necessary measures to protect the daily lives of people and inspect power systems as demand for air conditioning surges.

“An even greater concern is that abnormal weather conditions make it highly likely that extreme weather will continue for a considerable period,” said Lee, who wanted a major redesign of the disaster response system to cope with the hazardous conditions.

The nation’s weather agency said Yangsan, a southeastern inland city sitting in a basin, recorded a temperature of 42.5 degrees Celsius (108.5 degrees Fahrenheit) on Sunday, the highest temperature measured in 122 years of weather observations.

The Korea Meteorological Administration also issued its first-ever heatwave warning for parts of Seoul and neighbouring Gyeonggi on Monday, extending this to all of the capital on Tuesday.

A heatwave alert advises people to suspend outdoor activities such as farming, sports and work on construction sites.