South Korean President Lee Jae Myung on Tuesday called on authorities to strengthen support for people affected by the country’s record-breaking heatwave, saying the death toll had risen to 16 and warning that extreme weather events are becoming increasingly common.
Speaking at a cabinet meeting, Lee urged officials to take all necessary steps to protect people’s daily lives and ensure the reliability of power systems as demand for air conditioning continues to surge, Reuters reported.
“We need to make efforts for a fundamental overhaul of the national crisis system, since this extreme weather is becoming normal,” Lee said.
The Korea Meteorological Administration said the southeastern inland city of Yangsan recorded a temperature of 42.5 degrees Celsius (108.5 degrees Fahrenheit) on Sunday, the highest reading in 122 years of weather observations.
The weather agency also issued its first-ever heatwave warning for parts of Seoul and the neighboring Gyeonggi Province on Monday, expanding the warning to cover the entire capital on Tuesday.