The South Korean government said Friday that it has issued a warning to 43 local stores caught with open doors while their air conditioners were running during business hours, as part of its energy-saving measures in the midst of a weeks-long heat wave.

Earlier this week, the government said that it will levy a fine of up to 3 million won ($2,711.4) on shops, restaurants and other businesses that are caught leaving their doors open with the air conditioning on.

Led by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, squads of government officials raided some 2,350 stores doing business in 14 commercial districts nationwide, including Myeongdong, the biggest shopping district in central Seoul, on Thursday.

It caught 43 stores going against the government-led energy-saving guideline, the ministry said.

They received a warning this time but will be fined if they are caught a second time, added the ministry.

The crackdown came as the country's electricity consumption hit an all-time high this week amid a drawn-out heat wave.

The maximum electricity load soared to 84.97 million kilowatts on Thursday, breaking the previous record of 83.7 million kilowatts set three days earlier, with the electric power reserve ratio going down to 7.9 percent.

For nearly two weeks, South Korea has been suffering from sweltering heat, with Seoul's daily high having hovered around 33 C and its daily low remaining over 25 C. (Yonhap)