Freezing weather across Korea burst water meters and disrupted a transport line as the country grappled with an unusually severe cold spell on Thursday.
Temperatures fell to minus 17 C, a 55-year low for February weather, in Seoul and to the lowest level since meteorological records began in some regions of the country in the morning, the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) said.
Morning lows stood at minus 24.6 C in Cheorwon, a mountainous town near the inter-Korean border, minus 23.8 C in Jecheon and minus 23.1 C in Chuncheon, according to the KMA.
A wave of exceptionally cold weather is on its way from Siberia, which will be at its peak Friday, according to the weather office.
"Temperatures are forecast to begin to rise from Friday afternoon and recover the annual average level on Saturday," a weather official said. The cold weather was caused by a frigid continental high-pressure system and the chill from the North Pole, it added.
In Seoul, commuters experienced traffic chaos during the morning rush hours as one of the subway services linking the capital city to satellite cities was suspended.
A subway train came to a halt near Seoul Station on its way from Cheonan to Euijeongbu at about 7:22 a.m. due to a suspected electrical wiring glitch, assumed to be caused by the cold snap.
The accident caused suspension of northbound train services on subway line No. 1 for nearly five hours till noon. Commuters had to transfer to buses and taxis in the freezing weather to go to work.
More than a hundred cases of water meters being frozen and broken in the record cold weather followed in Seoul and the surrounding Gyeonggi Province.
Municipal governments in Seoul and its surrounding Gyeonggi Province said they have received about 120 such reports from citizens since early Wednesday.
Water supply in Changshin-dong, a residential area in central Seoul, was suspended for several hours as the cold spell resulted in an explosion of frozen water pipes there, the water supplier said.
The freezing temperatures have also prompted the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education to allow kindergartens and elementary schools in the capital to decide whether to close on Thursday for students' health and safety. (Yonhap)
