Yangsan, a city in South Gyeongsang Province, reached 108.5 degrees Fahrenheit (42.5 degrees Celsius) on Sunday — the highest temperature recorded during 122 years of Korean observations.

The incident exposed how much faster South Korea has strengthened its emergency response to extreme heat than adapted the homes, workplaces and infrastructure where weather exposure occurs.

Only 12 weeks earlier, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety (MOIS) had published its 2026 summer disaster plan, which created a new, top-level “serious heat-wave warning” for conditions involving an apparent temperature of at least 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius) or an