South Korea records its highest-ever temperature of 42.5 C

South Korea recorded its highest-ever temperature, 42.5 degrees Celsius, in the southeastern city of Yangsan on Sunday, amid a heatwave that has killed at least 19 people since mid-May, according to authorities. Seoul was placed under the country's first-ever severe heatwave warning this week, a designation introduced this year, and President Lee Jae Myung called for a fundamental overhaul of the national crisis system, describing extreme weather as becoming normal. The interior ministry reported 2,025 people suffered heat-related illnesses between May 15 and August 2. The heat has also affected Japan, where an earthquake-recovery effort in Kumamoto was complicated by high temperatures and where three lions died at a Tokyo-area zoo from suspected heat-related causes.