Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon held an emergency meeting with the city’s senior officials to come up with measures to deal with the prolonged heat wave.

As the heat wave is expected to continue indefinitely, the Seoul Metropolitan Government said it is establishing 181 more shades across the city -- there are currently 1,023 shades available -- while public areas where many homeless Koreans stay, such as outside Seoul Station, will be monitored 15 times a day.

The city is also operating a total of 3,252 shelters where those who do not have access to air conditioning can stay for free. The Seoul Metropolitan Government said Monday that 427 of them will operate until 9 p.m. 


As of Monday afternoon, 27 Koreans had died from heat-related illness, while more than 2,000 have sought medical attention for health conditions caused by the hot weather, including heat stroke. Day time highs reached 37 degrees Celsius in Seoul on Monday, making it the warmest city in the nation along with Daejeon.

Some 10 high-ranking officials of the Seoul Metropolitan Government attended the meeting, including Kim In-cheol, director of the city’s welfare department, and Nah Baek-ju, director of the city’s public health department.

Meanwhile, Park has been living in a two-room rooftop dwelling without air conditioning since earlier this month, to experience one of the worst types of housings. Rooftop dwellings are generally considered too warm in summer.

President Moon Jae-in recently gifted Park an electric fan as a way to endorse Park’s efforts.

By Claire Lee (dyc@heraldcorp.com)