Let's take a closer look at the prolonged heatwave that's been suffocating South Korea for a number of weeks now.<br />As well raising physical discomfort levels,... it's raising some economic discomfort as well.<br />The soaring temperatures have caused food, gasoline and energy prices to spike.<br />Ko Roon-hee reports. <br />The owner of this Seoul restaurant, Kim Hae-soo, says this summer was particularly brutal for his business.<br />As Korea reached the hottest temperature it's ever recorded... the price of vegetables soared,... which means Kim's menu has been a lot more expensive to make.<br /><br /> "I feel like vegetable prices have risen more than 3 fold recently because of the hot weather. I hope the heatwave ends soon… so I can buy ingredients at a normal price." <br /><br />Data from the Korea Consumer Agency earlier this week showed vegetable prices had jumped by 5-point-4 percent as of August 3rd… from just a week earlier.<br />Cabbage prices rose the most, by 41-point-2 percent, followed by spinach and napa cabbage. <br /><br /><br />And it's not just vegetables,… fruit prices are also rising. Here at a supermarket in Seoul, one watermelon costs around 20 U.S. dollars. This is more than a 20-percent increase from last month's average price. <br /><br /><br />"When fruit was cheap, I would buy a lot. But because it's so expensive now, I tend to eat less fruit." <br /><br />There are also more areas now covered by agricultural insurance programs, which compensate for crop damage.<br />A property insurance company says the area covered was around 321-thousand hectares for all of last year... but that figure was already surpassed as of the end of July.<br /><br /><br />"When farmers sign up for insurance, they have to pay a certain premium. On average, the central and local governments pay for 80 percent of it and farmers pay 20 percent."<br /><br />Another burden has been soaring rates for fuel and electricity.<br />Korea National Oil Corporation says the average price of gasoline in the first week of August was around 1 U.S. dollar and 43 cents a liter,… the highest so far this year. <br /><br />To help with the cost of electricity, the government has reduced the rates for household use for July and August.<br />A household of four using 350 kilowatt-hours of power in a month... would only have to pay around 58 dollars -- down 25-and-a-half percent from the normal rate.<br />Ko Roon-hee, Arirang News. <br />
