Experts Predict Weather Services to Grow in Korea Talking About the Weather Makes Good Business Sense Why the Weather Went Mad in August Unusual Weather Patterns Prompt Ideas on Climate Change

According to the results of an analysis done Wednesday by the Korea Meteorological Administration and the Chosun Ilbo, the average yearly temperature of Wonju was 10.6 degrees in the 1980s, but in the last six years it has increased to 11.9 degrees. The rate of increase is similar to that for the whole country over the last 100 years, and it shows how fast warming in Wonju is progressing.

According to Hong Yoon, the director general of the KMA Forecast Bureau, the warming is a result of urbanization and other complex factors. He pointed out that rapid development has caused Wonju to become the most crowded city in Gangwon Province. Throughout the country, the average temperature in 62 areas has increased from 12.2 to 12.8 degrees in 20 years.

The situation could be calamitous for Korea's ecology. Amphibious animals are especially sensitive to changes in temperature, as are many birds and plants. The disruptive power of global warming is clear in Yeongcheon, North Gyeongsang Province, Korea's primary apple growing region. The area in which apples can grow has shrunk by over 70 percent in the last 20 years, from over 33 million sq.m to 9.2 million sq.m. "Because it's getting warmer the amount of land unsuitable for growing apples has increased," a Yeongcheon government official said. In the last few years, migratory birds from subtropical Southeast Asian forests have been seen in Korea.

Advanced nations have been moving to counter global warming, with the change in policy in the U.S. especially surprising. President George W. Bush, who was once opposed to obligatory cutbacks on greenhouse gases and even seceded from the Kyoto Protocol of 2001, announced a plan last month to reduce oil consumption in the U.S. by 20 percent within the next 10 years. Meanwhile the EU earlier this month passed laws that strictly regulate the emissions of carbon dioxide from vehicles.

There has been relatively little anti-warming action in Korea where no official conclusion has been reached on whether the country should work to reduce greenhouse gases. "The Ministry of Environment insists that the government should at least have a goal, but the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy is opposed to the idea and claims there is no need for it. So the discussion on greenhouse gases is getting nowhere," a government official said Thursday.

Non-government institutions have been quicker to act. The LG Economic Research Institute recently urged the government to send strategic signals, such as plan to cut greenhouse gases, to the markets. They have also requested for appropriate policies to deal with the matter.

(englishnews@chosun.com )