South Korea Struggles to Contain Wildfires that Have Killed 26

A view of the burnt remains of a building destroyed by wildfires at the Namhu Agricultural Industrial Complex in Andong city, South Korea, 27 March 2025. EPA/JEON HEON-KYUN
A view of the burnt remains of a building destroyed by wildfires at the Namhu Agricultural Industrial Complex in Andong city, South Korea, 27 March 2025. EPA/JEON HEON-KYUN
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South Korea Struggles to Contain Wildfires that Have Killed 26

A view of the burnt remains of a building destroyed by wildfires at the Namhu Agricultural Industrial Complex in Andong city, South Korea, 27 March 2025. EPA/JEON HEON-KYUN
A view of the burnt remains of a building destroyed by wildfires at the Namhu Agricultural Industrial Complex in Andong city, South Korea, 27 March 2025. EPA/JEON HEON-KYUN

Helicopters dumped water over a burning forest in South Korea on Thursday as fire crews struggled to contain the country's worst-ever wildfires, which have killed 26 people, forced at least 37,000 others to flee their homes and destroyed more than 300 structures.

Multiple wildfires fueled by strong winds and dry weather have been raging across South Korea's southeastern regions since last Friday.

The government has mobilized thousands of personnel, dozens of helicopters and other equipment to extinguish the blazes, but gusty winds are hampering their efforts, The Associated Press reported.

Rain was expected later Thursday. But Korea Forest Service chief Lim Sang-seop said the amount — less than 5 millimeters (0.2 inches) is forecast — likely won't help much in extinguishing the wildfires.

The fatalities include a pilot whose helicopter crashed during efforts to contain a fire Wednesday and four firefighters and other workers who died earlier after being trapped by fast-moving flames.

Authorities haven't disclosed details of the civilian dead, except that they are mostly in their 60s or older who found it difficult to escape quickly or who even refused orders to evacuate. They suspect human error caused several of the wildfires, including cases where people started fires while clearing overgrown grass from family tombs or with sparks during welding work.

Lee Han-kyung, deputy head of the government's disaster response center, told a meeting Thursday that the wildfires have again disclosed “the reality of climate crisis that we have yet experienced,” according to Yonhap news agency. Calls to his center were unanswered.

Scientists say the warming atmosphere around the world is driving ever more extreme weather events, including wildfires, flooding, droughts, hurricanes and heat waves that are killing people and causing billions of dollars in damage every year.

The wildfires have burned 36,010 hectares (88,980 acres) of land, the disaster response center said Thursday. Observers say that's the worst figure of its kind in South Korea. The report said the blazes have also injured 30 people, eight of them seriously, destroyed 325 buildings and structures and forced more than 37,180 people to evacuate.

As of Thursday morning, the center said authorities were mobilizing more than 9,000 people and about 120 helicopters to battle the wildfires.

In Cheongsong, one of the fire-hit areas, thick plumes of smoke were bellowing from Juwang Mountain on Thursday morning. Helicopters repeatedly hovered over the mountain, dropping water. The amount of smoke later appeared to have diminished.

At a Buddhist temple near the mountain, workers covered a stone pagoda and other structures with fire-resistant materials, while firefighters poured water on sites near the temple.

The hardest-hit areas include Andong city and the neighboring counties of Uiseong and Sancheong, and the city of Ulsan.

On Wednesday night, strong winds and smoke-filled skies forced authorities in the southeastern city of Andong to order evacuations in two villages, including Puncheon, home to the Hahoe folk village — a UNESCO World Heritage Site founded around the 14th-15th century. Hikers were advised to leave the scenic Jiri Mountain as another fire spread closer.

The fires in the past week have destroyed houses, factories and some historic structures. In Uiseong, about 20 of the 30 structures at the Gounsa temple complex, which was said to be originally built in the 7th century, have burned. Among them were two state-designated “treasures” — a pavilion-shaped building erected overlooking a stream in 1668, and a Joseon dynasty structure built in 1904 to mark the longevity of a king.

The Korea Forest Service wildfire warning is at its highest level, requiring local governments to assign more workers to emergency response, tighten entry restrictions for forests and parks, and recommend that military units withhold live-fire exercises.



Trump Offers to Join Potential Russia-Ukraine Talks in Türkiye

This combination of pictures created on May 12, 2025 shows Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy (L) during a press conference with the German Chancellor during the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Berlin on June 11, 2024, and Russian President Vladimir Putin during the Congress of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs in Moscow on March 18, 2025. (AFP)
This combination of pictures created on May 12, 2025 shows Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy (L) during a press conference with the German Chancellor during the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Berlin on June 11, 2024, and Russian President Vladimir Putin during the Congress of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs in Moscow on March 18, 2025. (AFP)
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Trump Offers to Join Potential Russia-Ukraine Talks in Türkiye

This combination of pictures created on May 12, 2025 shows Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy (L) during a press conference with the German Chancellor during the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Berlin on June 11, 2024, and Russian President Vladimir Putin during the Congress of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs in Moscow on March 18, 2025. (AFP)
This combination of pictures created on May 12, 2025 shows Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy (L) during a press conference with the German Chancellor during the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Berlin on June 11, 2024, and Russian President Vladimir Putin during the Congress of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs in Moscow on March 18, 2025. (AFP)

US President Donald Trump offered on Monday to join prospective Ukraine-Russia talks in Türkiye later this week as European countries pushed to get the Kremlin to accept their demand for a 30-day ceasefire in the war in Ukraine.

Trump spoke a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in a fresh twist to the stop-start peace talks process, said he would travel to Istanbul where, he said, he would be waiting to meet Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

Trump told reporters at the White House that talks in Istanbul could be helpful and he might join them on Thursday while in the region. His current schedule has him visiting Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar this week.

"I've got so many meetings, but I was thinking about actually flying over there. There's a possibility of it, I guess, if I think things can happen, but we've got to get it done," he said before departing for his second foreign trip since his second term in the White House began in January.

"Don't underestimate Thursday in Türkiye," he said.

In response to Trump's remarks, Zelenskiy said in a post on X: "I hope that the Russians will not evade the meeting. And of course, all of us in Ukraine would appreciate it if President Trump could be there with us at this meeting in Türkiye." He added that such participation was "the right idea".

Earlier on Monday, the German government said Europe will start preparing new sanctions against Russia unless the Kremlin by the end of the day starts abiding by a 30-day ceasefire in its war with Ukraine.

Ukraine's military said Russia had conducted dozens of attacks along the front in eastern Ukraine on Monday as well as an overnight assault using more than 100 drones, despite the ceasefire proposal by Europe and Kyiv.

"The clock is ticking," a German government spokesperson said at a news conference in Berlin.

It is not clear though how much impact fresh European sanctions would have on Russia, especially if the United States does not join in as well.

The leaders of four major European powers travelled to Kyiv on Saturday and demanded an unconditional 30-day ceasefire from Monday. Putin, implicitly rejecting the offer, instead proposed direct Russia-Ukraine talks in Istanbul that he said could potentially lead to a ceasefire.

The Kremlin has not responded to that latest proposal. Putin and Zelenskiy have not met since December 2019 - over two years before Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine - and make no secret of their contempt for each other.

Responding to the proposal of a ceasefire, Russia said at the weekend it is committed to ending the war but that European powers were using the language of confrontation.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Russia was "completely ignoring" the ceasefire initiative, citing what he said were continued attacks on Ukrainian forces.

He said he shared information about the continued fighting with European partners and with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on a joint phone call. The allies had agreed sanctions would be needed to pressure Russia if it snubbed the truce move.

Russia and Ukraine are both trying to show Trump that they are working towards his objective of reaching a rapid peace in Ukraine, while trying to make the other look like the spoiler to his efforts.

FIGHTING CONTINUES

The Ukrainian military's general staff said that as of 4 p.m. (1300 GMT) on Monday there had been 69 clashes with Russian forces along the front line since midnight, when the ceasefire was to have come into effect.

The intensity of the fighting was at the same level it would be if there were no ceasefire, said Viktor Trehubov, a spokesperson for the military on Ukraine's eastern front.

The Ukrainian air force said Ukraine came under attack overnight from 108 long-range combat drones starting from 11 p.m. (2000 GMT), an hour before the proposed ceasefire was due to kick in. Attacks of this kind unfold over the course of hours as drones fly much slower than missiles.

Russia also launched guided bombs at targets in the northeastern Kharkiv region and the northern Sumy region, the air force said, while the Ukrainian state railway company said a Russian drone hit a civilian freight train in the east.

Kyiv is desperate to unlock more of the US military backing it received from Trump's predecessor, Joe Biden. Moscow senses an opportunity to get relief from a barrage of economic sanctions and engage with the world's biggest economy.

Europe meanwhile is doing its best to preserve good relations with Trump despite his imposition of tariffs, hoping it can persuade him to swing more forcefully behind Ukraine's cause, which they see as central to the continent's security.