![\"Potatoes](\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/thumb\/msid-133197861,imgsize-1621490,width-400,height-225,resizemode-4\/apphoto.jpg\" "\\"Record")
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nSouth Korea recorded its hottest summer on record this year, with the southeastern city of Yangsan reaching 42.5\u00b0C 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 \u201clike boiled potatoes\u201d as intense heat affected the soil.\u201cIt\u2019s not just one or two fields like this. How can I even put it into words? It\u2019s so upsetting,\u201d Sang-hyuk told local broadcaster SBS.The extreme heat has been blamed for at least 31 deaths nationwide, according to South Korea\u2019s 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 \u201cimmediately stop all outdoor activities\u201d. South Korean President Lee Jae Myung told his cabinet that the extreme weather was \u201cunlike anything we have experienced before\u201d.\u201cWe need to make efforts for a fundamental overhaul of the national crisis system,\u201d he said, \u201csince this extreme weather is becoming the new normal.\u201dIn neighbouring Japan, temperatures reached 40\u00b0C or higher in several locations, while the country recorded its first \u201ckokushobi\u201d, or \u201ccruelly hot day\u201d, a new category introduced this year by the weather agency for temperatures above 40\u00b0C. In Tokyo, three lions at a city zoo died of suspected heatstroke, as cited by The Guardian.Scientists say the extreme temperatures are part of a wider pattern. Researchers at Japan\u2019s Weather Attribution Centre found that the country\u2019s intense July heat would have been \u201cvirtually impossible\u201d without global warming.They estimated that, without human-caused warming, a heatwave of this scale would occur on average once every 10,000 years.In Hong Kong, the observatory recorded 36.9\u00b0C, the highest temperature there since records began in 1884, as the outer bands of Typhoon Dolphin swept hot air across the city.The record heat also highlighted shortcomings in the city\u2019s heat-stress warning system for outdoor workers, which remained at its lowest level despite the record temperatures.In China\u2019s western Xinjiang region, a weather station recorded 50\u00b0C in July, while heatwaves affected the country\u2019s north-east. North Korea also reported a run of tropical nights in Pyongyang, with temperatures remaining above 25\u00b0C.The extreme heat came even as an El Ni\u00f1o event was under way, a natural climate pattern that has previously been linked to a lower likelihood of extreme summer heat in Japan.El Ni\u00f1o occurs naturally in the Pacific and, when combined with human-driven global warming, can contribute to temperature spikes and more extreme weather.<\/div>\n