The scorching heat is estimated to have killed 23 people across the country, more than triple the record seven in the same period last year, local media reported citing fire authorities.
The official temperature, measured in the city of Yeoju, south of Seoul, reached 38.4 C on Tuesday, the Interior and Security Ministry said.
South Korea raised the heat warning level in its four-tier system to the highest from 6 p.m. Tuesday, the first time since 2019.
The highest “serious” warning is issued when the apparent temperature is expected to be 35°C or higher in at least 40% of the country’s 180 regions for three days or more. It may also be issued when the apparent temperature is likely to be 38°C or higher for three or more days in 10% of the country.
The highest daily temperature on Wednesday is expected to reach 35C in the capital Seoul, the weather agency said.
The government has said it expects high temperatures to persist with oppressive humidity in the coming days, with the apparent temperature likely to hover around 35C in most parts of the country.
President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday urged officials to step up measures to prevent further casualties, especially for people working outdoors, the elderly and those living in makeshift homes without adequate air conditioning systems.
Near Yoon’s office on Wednesday, construction workers held a press conference and called for concrete countermeasures.
“Under current conditions, heat fatalities of construction workers are ‘expected fatalities,'” the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions said in a statement.
The increasing frequency and intensity of severe weather is symptomatic of human-induced global climate change, experts in the field say, with heat waves across much of the world expected to persist through August.
North Korea is also grappling with the relentless heatwave, with daily highs expected to hover between 35-37C on Thursday, state media reported.
