Korea suffering through worst drought since 1908
Photo/Ahzaryamed via Wikimedia Commons
A brutally hot summer has arrived on the Korean peninsula, however what it is lacking are those early summer rains. In fact, according to the Korea Metrological Administration, rainfall since the beginning of May has been the lowest since 1908.
In South Korea , as of Tuesday, about 80% of the country was rated at the most extreme drought level.
The Wall Street Journal reports, “since May, the worst drought in a century has persisted and heat wave warnings have been sent out as well. Many people, including farmers, are having difficulties” said Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik during a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, “The government is worried about possible fallout, such as price hikes for produce and reduced water supply.”
Farmers are concerned as the country’s reservoirs dry up. Reports from Hongseong, a mid-western farming city, say that the city’s water reserves are less than 15%.
This drought is making a bad thing worse in North Korea, where according to an Associated Press report, two-thirds of North Korea’s 24 million people face chronic food shortages already.
South Phyongan and North and South Hwanghae provinces, which are traditionally North Korea’s “breadbasket,” thousands of hectares (acres) of crops are withering away despite good irrigation systems. The North Korean military has gone so far as to dispatch female soldiers to pour buckets of water on parched fields.
Officials blamed high atmospheric pressure over the Korean peninsula for the drought.
