South Korea's Lee urges authorities to step up support as heatwave kills 16

Speaking at ⁠a cabinet meeting, Lee called on officials to take necessary measures to protect the daily lives of people and inspect power systems as demand for air conditioning surges.

"We need to make efforts for a fundamental overhaul of the national crisis system, ‌since ⁠this extreme weather is becoming normal," he said.

The nation's weather agency said Yangsan, a southeastern inland city, recorded a temperature of 42.5 ⁠degrees Celsius (108.5 degrees Fahrenheit) on Sunday, the highest temperature measured in 122 years of weather observations.

The ⁠Korea Meteorological Administration also issued its first-ever heatwave warning for parts of Seoul ⁠and neighbouring Gyeonggi on Monday, extending this to all of the capital on Tuesday.