Bahk Eun-ji has been with The Korea Times since 2012, building a career across multiple desks. She began at the Business Desk, where she conducted in-depth interviews with key figures in Korea's corporate world. Later, she moved to the Politics & City Desk, focusing on education policy and social affairs. She later served as team leader of the digital content team, leading curation efforts on the newspaper’s homepage and reshaping print stories for social media audiences to enhance digital reach. Now back on the Politics Desk, she covers the National Assembly and the Ministry of National Defense, with a renewed focus on political developments.
Major heat wave set to roast whole nation
Large blocks of ice are placed by citizens waiting in line for COVID-19 testing at a makeshift testing center in Seoul amid a heat wave, Monday. Yonhap
By Bahk Eun-ji
State-run firms urged to turn off air conditioners during peak hours to prevent blackouts
By Bahk Eun-ji
Korea's weather is heating up, with sizzling temperatures forecast throughout the week after the rainy season ended, the weather agency said Tuesday.
As a heat advisory has been issued in almost all parts of the country, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety raised its heat wave crisis warning level from “caution” to “alert” in anticipation of a long-lasting heat wave.
With the rain virtually ending Monday, a strong heat wave has begun to grip the country and the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) forecast most parts of the country are likely to have daytime highs hovering over 35 degrees Celsius, with some regions climbing up to nearly 40 degrees.
Large cities will experience tropical nights, in which the temperature never dips below 25 degrees, especially along the western and southern coasts and Jeju Island.
The hot weather is being caused by a heat dome, formed by high-pressure systems from the North Pacific and Tibet overlapping each other over the peninsula and covering it like a dome. The heat wave in 2018 was also a result of a heat dome.
In response, the safety ministry raised its heat wave warning to the third-highest level as of 10 a.m. Tuesday. The warning system has four levels ― attention, caution, alert and serious ― and the highest is issued when more than 40 percent of the country is expected to have daytime highs of 33 degrees or more for over three days.
A resident drinks a bottle of water from a refrigerator set up for villagers at a neighborhood park in Nowon District, Seoul amid a heat wave, Tuesday. Such fridges are installed to provide free water in the district until the end of August. Yonhap
The ministry held an emergency meeting with regional governments and relevant organizations over preparedness for possible damage from the heat wave, such as the deterioration of the health of workers outdoors, blackouts and damage to crops and livestock.
Alongside the health authorities, it also urged people to pay extra attention to healthcare as the risk of heat-related diseases increases.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) reported that 436 people had been hospitalized with heat-related illnesses such as heatstroke from May 20 to July 17, and six of them were presumed to have died from the latter.
In particular, three of the deaths took place over about a week since July 12 when the ministry's heat wave warning level was raised to “caution” from “attention.”
As the extreme heat is expected to cause a spike in energy demand for the use of air conditioning, the country is also at risk of power shortages.
Last week, the daily demand for electricity was over 85 million kilowatts, and it is expected to rise further this week, which is likely to push down the electricity reserve level to below 10 percent, the minimum required to avoid a blackout.
As part of efforts to prevent a blackout, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy requested 954 public organizations nationwide to stop or minimize the use of air conditioners from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., the peak time for electricity use, from this week to the second week of August.