South Korea records all-time high temperature as global heatwave intensifies

An intense heatwave has driven South Korea to a historic temperature peak, with the southeastern city of Yangsan recording 42.5 °C on Sunday, the highest ever documented in the country's more than 100-year weather record. The Korea Meteorological Administration said this was the fifth consecutive day the city exceeded 40 °C, and over 20 localities were placed under emergency heatwave alerts, a warning level created this year for temperatures forecast to reach at least 38 °C or actual readings of 39 °C or higher.

Nationally, many cities are seeing highs in the upper 30s, and the average number of heatwave days has risen from eight in the 1970s to 19 in recent years. Experts attribute the increasing frequency and severity of such events to climate change driven by human activity. The Korean heatwave coincides with extreme weather worldwide, including severe heat and heatstroke alerts in Japan, wildfires across Greece, Spain and France, and dangerous fire-risk conditions in North Africa and the western United States.