South Korea on Monday urged North Korea to stop discharging water from a dam across the border without prior notice. The North has several times since Aug. 17 discharged water from its Hwanggang Dam into the Imjin River without warning.

"We sent a message to the North in the name of the minister of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs," a Unification Ministry official said. "We urged them to give us advance notice before they discharge dam water in accordance with an inter-Korean agreement of 2009."

Seoul took the measure ahead of the approach of typhoon Bolaven to avoid exacerbating damage.