Climate change could leave Korea with 'super hurricanes' and no winter

SEOUL, Sept. 6 (Yonhap) -- Korea may experience a massive shift in weather
patterns that would replace its frigid winters with heavy tropical rains and
"super hurricanes," a state weather agency said Sunday.
The Climate Change Information Center (CCIC) said most of South Korea could be
categorized as a subtropical region by the end of the century if global warming
continues along its current course.
The forecast, based on a study of the country's climate changes from 1971 to
2000, partly confirms general beliefs that Korea's winters have increasingly
become shorter while summers have gotten noticeably longer.
"This means most of our major cities -- Seoul, Suwon, Daejeon, Gwangju, Daegu and
Ulsan -- will no longer experience sub-zero temperatures by the end of the 21st
century," said Park Gwan-young, head of the CCIC.
Park also said that between the 1920s and the 1990s, winters have become shorter
by an average of 30 days and summers have become longer by about 20 days.
A permanent change in the country's climate could also leave Korea more
susceptible to what he called "super hurricanes" with wind speeds of over 70m per
second and bringing over 1,000mm of torrential rain.
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