Bangi-seong "Typhoon Khanun Crossing Central Korean Peninsula... Significant Damage Expected"

Kang Ki-Sung, Head of Kweather Center, CBS Radio Interview
"Blocked Northwest by Two High-Pressure Systems... Moving North-Central"

Typhoon Khanun, the 6th typhoon of the season, is expected to move northward, crossing the Korean Peninsula from south to north. Ban Gi-seong, head of the Kweather Center, said, "This is the first time since 1951 that the Korea Meteorological Administration has observed such a phenomenon."

Ban appeared on CBS Radio's 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show' on the 10th and said, "Usually, typhoons either move northward over the West Sea or make landfall on the southern coast and then curve away. This is the first time a typhoon has cut the Korean Peninsula exactly in half and moved straight up to North Korea," he explained.

Ban analyzed two reasons why Khanun is showing an unusual path. He said, "Typhoons do not move on their own but follow the surrounding air pressure. So, it was just moving westward, but it encountered the hot Tibetan upper-level high pressure system head-on."

On the morning of the 10th, as Typhoon Khanun moved northward, typhoon warnings were issued for most regions nationwide. The typhoon's path is displayed on the screen in the situation room at the Government Seoul Office in Jongno-gu, Seoul. Photo by Yonhap News

He continued, "The typhoon wanted to move west, but the high pressure system blocked it, so it couldn't move and stayed in place for about a day, trying to push forward. Then it moved back toward Japan. This created a very strange angle, like a reverse spin in billiards. After moving all the way up to south of Kyushu, Japan, the problem was that the North Pacific high-pressure upper-level system pushed westward again," he explained.

He added, "The North Pacific high is standing like a wall to the east of our country, and the Tibetan high is coming from the west. Between these two high-pressure systems, a jet stream extends far south and moves slowly northward. So, in this pressure pattern, the typhoon is blocked from both the west and east, and as a result, it is forced to move northward right through the center of the Korean Peninsula."

Ban also mentioned, "Another factor is the Fujiwhara effect, where the 7th typhoon, Ran, interferes with Khanun's path."

Khanun is also characterized by its slow movement. Ban said, "It is likely to be recorded as one of the slowest typhoons in history. The slow movement is mainly due to the Fujiwhara effect caused by the 7th typhoon, Ran."

He explained, "Secondly, when most typhoons make landfall on the Korean Peninsula, they usually move away at about 35 to 40 km/h because the jet stream above pulls the typhoon along. But in this case, there is no such pulling force from above, so the typhoon is moving northward slowly."

Furthermore, Ban expressed concern about significant damage due to the typhoon accompanied by heavy rain and wind. He said, "Typhoons tend to pour heavy rain and wind strongly once, then calm down, and then come again. When it hits strongly, the East Coast is expected to receive over 100 mm per hour, and other regions are expected to get 30 to 50 mm per hour at the strongest times. This is similar to the heavy rain during the last monsoon season."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.