Gyeonggi

South Korea is seeing dramatic weather swings: Daejeon hit 31.5 degrees and Seoul 29.6 degrees, the hottest mid-October in 119 years, before temperatures drop sharply nationwide as rain moves in from Sunday night. Morning temperatures in northern Gyeonggi fell to around 5 degrees with 15-degree daily swings. Forecasters are also warning of a possible unusually warm winter with heavy snow, prompting heavy public interest in the forecast.

Gyeonggi Province's climate insurance program paid roughly four times more heat-related claims in six months than in the entire previous year, as South Korea endured a record-breaking summer. The figures point to extreme heat driving measurable financial losses, with the provincial insurance scheme increasingly acting as a buffer against heat illness linked to intensifying extreme weather.

Gyeonggi Province is mobilising roughly 200 replacement buses ahead of a bus workers' union strike that could remove nearly 4,000 buses from service across the region. Officials are preparing emergency transport measures to limit disruption for commuters, while talks over the labour dispute continue ahead of the planned walkout.