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Weather agency to foster talented forecasters to tackle misreports

August 29, 2016

SEOUL, Aug. 29 (Yonhap) — South Korea’s weather agency said Monday it will train up to a hundred talented weathermen in the next decade after coming under a fire for a series of inaccurate reports during the unprecedented heat wave that struck the country earlier this month.

The measure is part of a plan rolled out by the Korean Meteorological Administration (KMA) to strengthen its capability, as criticism has mounted over its inability to provide an accurate forecast.

The country suffered from scorching heat for weeks until last week, something that the weather agency had not predicted.

Under the new plan, the meteorological office has decided to intensify training by sending experts abroad for education and opening new intensive courses in the field.

The agency said it will also train experts to be proficient at either short-range or long-range forecasting and openly recruit new forecasters in and outside of the government.

The meteorological office said it aims to increase the accuracy of rain forecasting from the current 92 percent to 95 percent in 10 years.

Pedestrians in downtown Seoul are spotted wearing long sleeves in the morning of Aug. 29, 2016, as the temperature dropped over the weekend after a month-long record heat wave. The weather agency said it will be cooler than normal for some time.