Typhoon Khanun expected to hit eastern Korea

Trees are blown by strong winds due to Typhoon Khanun in Naha, Japan, Saturday. AP-Yonhap

By Ko Dong-hwan

A shopping street is damaged by Typhoon Khanun in Naha, Japan, Thursday. Reuters-Yonhap

Typhoon Khanun is expected to hit the country's eastern coast later this week, putting southeastern parts of the Korean Peninsula under its wet influence, the weather agency said Sunday.

However, the agency said later in the day that the northbound typhoon's predicted course has shifted closer to the Korean Peninsula. It was previously forecast to hit southern parts of Japan while distancing itself from Korea.

According to the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA), Khanun will start soaking the country on Wednesday night, dropping rain on Busan, Ulsan and South Gyeongsang Province.

As the typhoon shifts north, the overcast will move further north over Daegu, North Gyeongsang Province and North Chungcheong Province by early Thursday morning and over Gangwon Province and eastern Gyeonggi Province later on Thursday morning. Ulleung Island and Dokdo will be under a particularly large amount of precipitation and strong winds during the week, according to the authority.

By Friday, the typhoon will move further north and away from the country while reaching the ocean some 70 kilometers off North Korea's eastern coastal city of Wonsan.

The KMA said Khanun will drop as much as 300 millimeters of water over Gangwon Province and regions in the North and South Gyeongsang provinces during the week.

The KMA said earlier Sunday that the typhoon would hit most parts of South Korea except for the southwestern coast off South Jeolla Province. At 4 p.m., however, the weather agency said the typhoon's predicted course will likely move closer to the country as it travels north, raising concerns that its impact could be bigger than previously anticipated.

The typhoon developed in the ocean east of the Philippines and shifted north. On Sunday morning, it reached waters some 190 kilometers north of Okinawa Prefecture in Japan with its wind strength “strong” (33 to 43 meters per second, or 119 to 158 kilometers per hour). On Monday and Tuesday, it will take a sharp curve to the west to put Japan's Kagoshima Prefecture directly in its northbound course and keep heading north to meet Korea's eastern waters.

The closest Khanun is expected to reach Korea is when it arrives in the southeastern waters of Busan some 60 kilometers off on Thursday as it moves northbound between Korea and Japan. Then the typhoon will keep moving north along the country's east coast, all the while putting various regions regions under its influence including Gangwon Province, North Chungcheong Province and North and South Gyeongsang provinces.