Ruling and opposition parties blame forecasters for manpower shortage amid surge in 'unexpected weather'

Amid an unprecedented surge in weather events, the parliamentary audit has pointed out the lack of weather forecasters and poor working conditions.

Lim I-ja, a member of the People's Power, criticized the quality of the forecast at the National Assembly today (11th), saying that despite the fact that the number of heavy rain warnings has increased two to three times and the frequency of extreme precipitation has increased over the past five years, the number of forecasters has remained the same and only working hours have increased.

Rep. Park Hong-bae of the Democratic Party of Korea said that after analyzing big data in the past month, the public's negative perception of the Korea Meteorological Administration is strong and the accuracy of the forecast has not improved, leading to a continued decline in public satisfaction.

In response, Jang Dong-eon, head of the Korea Meteorological Administration, said that abnormal weather events are becoming more extreme and it is becoming more difficult to forecast, and that he will come up with measures to increase the number of forecasters and improve the accuracy of the forecast.