Change of weather disaster having occurred in Korea since 1960s was analyzed using newspaper articles recording objective facts and reflecting consciousness of the times. The analysis was carried out on 6 disasters: heavy rainfall, cold wave, heavy snowfall, typhoon, heat wave and drought. To focus on the events having great social impacts, articles were chosen among top articles on the front page and general page of the newspapers. Dong-A Daily News articles were sampled from 1960 to 2013, for 54 years. A total of 315 articles were analyzed, among which typhoon accounted for the largest proportion of 36%. Heavy rainfall, heavy snowfall, drought and cold wave followed typhoon, and the topics of heat wave accounted for the lowest percentage of 6%. Articles of typhoon and heavy rainfall accounted for 57%, which is more than half of all. Drought and cold wave are concentrated in the 60s to 70s, and heavy snowfall and heat wave have sharply increased since 2010, due to the tendency of global warming. Articles have decreased over time because the importance of those articles has declined as a result of social development.

• 공항진(SBS 전문기자) | Hangjin Kong
• 이승호(건국대학교 지리학과·기후연구소) | Seungho Lee Correspondence