South Korea, extreme heat becomes 'national disaster'

The heatwave that has hit South Korea in the summer of 2026 has so far caused 21 deaths and 2,441 emergency room admissions. The figure was released by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency and reported by Tech Times.

On Sunday, temperatures reached 42.5 degrees Celsius in the southeastern city of Yangsan, the highest value recorded in 122 years of weather monitoring in South Korea, according to NBC News based on data from the South Korean government and the Korea Meteorological Administration.

Data	Value
Confirmed deaths	21
Emergency room admissions	2,441
Record temperature (Yangsan, Sunday)	42.5 °C
Years of monitoring surpassed	122

A previous bulletin issued by the same agency indicated a toll of 19 deaths, of whom 13 were people over 80 years old; the most recent figure, reported by Tech Times, updates it to 21. The rise in emergency room admissions, amounting to 2,441 cases, provides a further measure of the pressure placed on South Korea’s healthcare system during the hottest weeks of the year.

Faced with the scale of the phenomenon, the Korea Baseball Organization has made permanent the automatic suspension of matches on days of maximum alert, a measure that in previous seasons was applied only temporarily during the most severe heat peaks.

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung stated, according to NBC News, that the national crisis management system needs to be thoroughly revised, noting that weather conditions of this severity are becoming more frequent.

The death toll is documented by two independent sources — Tech Times, which cites the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, and NBC News, which cites the South Korean government and the Korea Meteorological Administration — a level of cross-confirmation that distinguishes this story from others of the day based on a single source. The permanent suspension of matches remains, among the documented measures, the main structural response adopted so far.