A record heatwave across South Korea, Japan and Hong Kong has destroyed crops, killed livestock and farmed fish, and pushed temperatures to unprecedented levels in parts of the region.
In South Korea, Yangsan reached 42.5C on 2 August, the country’s highest temperature since modern observations began in 1904. At least 31 people have died nationwide, while more than 900,000 livestock and 1.4 million farmed fish have also died, according to the country’s disease control agency.
Farmers face sudden, often uninsured losses
In Yanggu county, Gangwon province, potato farmer Lee Sang-hyuk found his crop soft and collapsing after it had appeared healthy a week earlier. He described the potatoes as being “like boiled potatoes” and said similar damage had affected more than one field.
In Gwangju, watermelon farmer Hong Kyung-hee said fruit that had been sweet and healthy turned to mush within three days. In Damyang county, strawberry farmer Yoon Woo-ha lost seedlings cultivated for three months; the source report says the losses will not be covered by insurance because South Korea’s crop insurance scheme applies only to designated crops, growing methods and regions.
Related coverage: Sea temperatures reached a July record during Europe’s extreme heat.
Heat records spread across the region
Japan recorded temperatures of 40C or higher in multiple locations and experienced its first “kokushobi”, or “cruelly hot day”. The category was introduced this year by Japan’s weather agency for temperatures above 40C. In Tokyo, three lions at a city zoo died of suspected heatstroke.
Hong Kong’s observatory recorded 36.9C, its highest temperature since records began in 1884, as the outer bands of Typhoon Dolphin moved hot air over the city. China’s western Xinjiang region recorded 50C in July, while North Korea reported tropical nights in Pyongyang, with temperatures staying above 25C.
Authorities and scientists assess what comes next
South Korean authorities issued a heat warning and urged people to immediately stop outdoor activities. President Lee Jae Myung called for a fundamental overhaul of the national crisis system, saying extreme weather was becoming the new normal.
More context: Extreme heat causes health issues and income loss for India’s informal outdoor workers.
Researchers at Japan’s Weather Attribution Centre said the country’s intense July heat would have been “virtually impossible” without human-caused global warming. Their analysis found that a heatwave of this scale would occur on average once every 10,000 years without that warming. Climate scientist June-Yi Lee said atmospheric circulation patterns, a strengthening high-pressure ridge over the Tibetan Plateau and western Pacific, and this year’s El Niño may all have shaped the regional event.
Hong Kong’s Labour Department said it was reviewing the outdoor-worker heat stress warning system with the observatory after the warning remained at its lowest tier during the record temperature. The World Meteorological Organization’s latest State of the Climate in Asia report said Asia warmed between 1991 and 2025 at roughly twice the pace of the preceding three decades.
Also read: European Heat and Drought Put Olive Oil and Food Crops at Risk.
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