The Ministry of Environment and the Korea meteorological Administration said on the 18th that they jointly published the Korea climate crisis assessment report 2025, which comprehensively covers the status, impacts, and adaptation measures of the climate crisis in Korea. The report projected that as warming intensifies, weather disasters such as heat waves, torrential downpours, and super-strong typhoons will become stronger and more frequent, and that the impacts across society will grow, including a rise in heat-related illnesses due to heat waves, declining productivity in the fisheries industry, and ecosystem changes.
This report is the fourth to be issued, following editions in 2010, 2014, and 2020, and aims to summarize research trends and outlooks on the climate crisis on the Korean Peninsula and present them to the government and the public. A total of 112 experts affiliated with the Korea meteorological Administration and the Ministry of Environment participated, analyzing about 2,000 domestic and international papers and reports published from 2020 to 2024.
According to the report, warming on the Korean Peninsula is gradually intensifying, and weather disasters such as heat waves and torrential rain are increasing. In 2024, domestic carbon dioxide concentrations were 430.7 ppm at Anmyeon-do, 429.0 ppm at Gosan, and 428.0 ppm at Ulleung-do, which were 5–8 ppm higher than the global average. The Korean Peninsula's annual average temperature was 13.7 C in 2023 and 14.5 C in 2024, ranking first and second on record, and the warming trend has strengthened over the past seven years.
The frequency and intensity of heat waves are also rising. Due to human factors, the probability of heat waves occurring can increase more than fourfold depending on the case, and the extreme-precipitation zone of typhoons could expand by 16%–37%. The probability of high sea surface temperatures that can sustain super-strong typhoons could also increase at least fivefold. By the end of the 21st century, the Korean Peninsula's annual average temperature is projected to rise by 2.3 C to as much as 7.0 C, depending on the level of greenhouse gas reductions. Accordingly, heat waves, which currently occur an average of 8.8 days per year, are expected to increase to as many as 79.5 days.
The social impacts are also severe. The number of patients with heat-related illnesses due to heat waves doubled from an average of 1,709 between 2020 and 2023 to 2024. In the 2050s, excess mortality related to high temperatures among older adults is projected to increase by 4.36% under the intermediate scenario and 5.52% under the somewhat higher scenario. Damage to the fisheries industry is also continuing, and sea temperatures in major aquaculture areas are expected to rise by about 4–5 degrees by 2100. In terrestrial ecosystems, changes in bird populations and seasonal mismatches are appearing, affecting biodiversity. In terms of forest management, analysis found that combining greenhouse gas reductions with resilient forest management could increase carbon dioxide absorption by more than 20%.
This report presents the climate crisis impacts across all social fields—including water management, ecosystems, agriculture and fisheries, health, and industry—together with scientific evidence, and is expected to be used in formulating the fourth national climate crisis response (adaptation) plan (2026–2030), which is scheduled to be established in the second half of this year, and in policymaking at all levels. It is also expected to be reflected in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Seventh Assessment Report, to be published from 2027, contributing to climate crisis analysis in Northeast Asia.
An Se-chang, director general of climate and carbon policy at the Ministry of Environment, said, "As damage from extreme weather such as heat waves and floods increases, protecting climate-vulnerable groups is important," and added, "We will establish the fourth national climate crisis response plan to strengthen climate response capabilities across all sectors of society." Kim Seung-hee, Vice Administrator of the Korea meteorological Administration, said, "As the climate crisis deepens, the patterns of climate disasters have become more complex," and added, "We will strengthen the scientific basis for establishing climate crisis adaptation policies through precise monitoring and forecasting, and work to ensure that Korea's climate science research achievements are recognized internationally."