Wildfires raging in South Korea have burned some 48,000 hectares of land, as authorities called the blazes the country's worst natural fire disaster with at least 28 people killed and another 37 injured.
The newly reported casualties came after five more people were wounded, including one seriously, by the massive fires that have engulfed South Korea's southeastern areas, said the central disaster and safety countermeasures headquarters early on Friday.
Since last Friday, medium and large-size wildfires have swept through 10 regions, mostly in Gyeongsang province, the agency said.
It is the country's worst-ever wildfire incident, topping the previous high of 23,794 hectares of land ravaged in 2000.
A total 23 pieces of South Korea's national heritage sites have so far been damaged by the fires, along with 3,481 homes, factories, and other facilities. North Gyeongsang province suffered the heaviest losses, accounting for 2,296 of the damaged properties.
As of 05:00 on Friday local time, six wildfires were still burning despite light rainfall in some affected areas between Thursday night and Friday morning.
Nearly 7,000 personnel, 126 helicopters, and 936 firefighting vehicles have been deployed to tackle the blazes, with the firefighting efforts hindered by strong and dry winds on Friday.
The central disaster and safety countermeasures headquarters warned that dry and strong wind conditions are expected to persist until the end of April, making large-scale wildfires likely to recur.
The wildfires have forced the evacuation of 33,000 residents, with over 8,000 people still unable to return home, according to local authorities.
A gymnasium in Andong City of North Gyeongsang has been converted into an emergency shelter, housing around 400 evacuees in 111 tents.
Many residents have been displaced for four to five days since the wildfires broke out, with reported shortages of essential medications, including blood pressure medicine, for the elderly.
Acting South Korean President Han Duck-soo on Friday issued an emergency directive, instructing the minister of the central disaster and safety countermeasures headquarters to remain in North Gyeongsang to ensure uninterrupted relief efforts for affected residents until the fires are fully contained.
South Korea battles worst-ever wildfires as casualties rise
South Korea battles worst-ever wildfires as casualties rise
China's development has never been a "threat" to anyone but the source of growth advancing common development of all countries, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said at a regular press conference in Beijing on Friday.
Some Western media and think tanks are peddling so-called "China Shock 2.0," saying that "China is achieving fast development in high-tech sectors such as renewable energy and AI and relies on foreign markets to absorb its overcapacity, thus reducing the market share of developed countries and sending more serious shock waves to the global economy compared with the era of traditional manufacture industry," while there are foreign commentators saying that the "China Shock 2.0" argument ignores the genuine innovation occurring within the Chinese industrial ecosystem and that Chinese export is the exact booster of the global economy that is needed in the turbulent period and more indispensable than ever.
Commenting on that, Lin said: "From the world's factory to the world's market and innovation powerhouse, China's development is achieved through strong performance driven by innovation and brings tangible cooperation opportunities and space to the world. High-quality Chinese products represented by the 'old three' of textiles, furniture and home appliances have stabilized the global industrial and supply chain, lowered the living cost of global consumers and eased the inflationary pressure worldwide. China's green production capacity represented by the 'new three' of electric vehicles, batteries and solar panels has bridged the gap between supply and demand in global green development and bolstered the global energy transition and low-carbon development. Moreover, China's high-tech products represented by the 'new new three' of robots, AI and innovative drugs have broken high-tech barriers and monopoly and enabled people in more countries to access affordable new technologies," said the spokesman.
"Openness and cooperation bring about progress and win-win result. China's development has never been a 'threat' to anyone but the source of growth advancing common development of all countries. What really creates 'shocks' to the world has never been the innovation of Chinese companies and efficiency of Chinese industrial capacity, but protectionist moves of setting up barriers, decoupling and severing industrial and supply chains. China will stay committed to high-standard opening up, defend the multilateral trading system and provide more certainty and new impetus to the world economy with its own steady development," said Lin.
China's development never a threat: FM spokesman
