Country prepares for Typhoon Bolaven

A row of fishing ships are anchored in a safe harbor at Hallim Port, Jeju Island, yesterday, as Typhoon Bolaven is forecast to move toward the Korean Peninsula north from Japan’s Okinawa. Typhoon Bolaven, named after a highland region in Laos, may be the most powerful typhoon seen by the country in a decade. Its intensity could match that of Typhoon Rusa in 2002, which killed more than 200 people. The typhoon is anticipated to be 500 kilometers (310 miles) south of Seogwipo, Jeju Isand, at 9:00 a.m. today and to come closer to the peninsula along the west coast. The Korea Meteorological Administration said it will bring heavy rainfall and gale winds to the country’s biggest island and southern regions later today, dropping as much as 300 millimeters (11.8 inches) of rain in the area. The 15th typhoon of the season will pass 140 kilometers southwest of Mokpo, South Jeolla, tomorrow morning to move upward along the west coast, maintaining a high magnitude with winds as high as 173 kilometers per hour (107 miles per hour) as well as bringing rain across the nation during the day. [YONHAP]