Potatoes 'boiling' in ground, livestock dead: Record heat ruins harvest in South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong

Record heat hits farms as Asia endures extreme summer (Representative image) South Korea recorded its hottest summer on record this year, with the southeastern city of Yangsan reaching 42.5°C on August 2, the highest temperature recorded in the country since modern weather observations began in 1904.A South Korean potato farmer in Gangwon province has seen his crop destroyed by extreme heat, with potatoes harvested in Yanggu county turning soft and collapsing within a week after initially appearing healthy.Farmer Lee Sang-hyuk said the tubers had become “like boiled potatoes” as intense heat affected the soil.“It’s not just one or two fields like this. How can I even put it into words? It’s so upsetting,” Sang-hyuk told local broadcaster SBS.The extreme heat has been blamed for at least 31 deaths nationwide, according to South Korea’s disease control agency, while more than 900,000 livestock and 1.4 million farmed fish have also died.Authorities issued a heat warning, urging people to “immediately stop all outdoor activities”. South Korean President Lee Jae Myung told his cabinet that the extreme weather was “unlike anything we have experienced before”.“We need to make efforts for ...