Drought is a growing concern following the early arrival of sweltering temperatures in the nation's central region in mid-June.

The Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) said Monday that average precipitation in the central region between June 1 and July 13 was 114-point-two millimeters, or only 43 percent of the level during the same period of past average years.

In particular, the Ganghwa area near Incheon city only saw rain of 40 millimeters during this period which is 15-point-four percent of average years.

The southern region, which has been affected by the monsoon front is not much different. One-hundred-65 millimeters of rain fell in the south since last month, less than 54 percent of the average amount in past years.

The drought has dried up underground water and mountain valley streams in Gangwon Province inland areas.

The Gangwon Fire Headquarters supplied some eleven-hundred tons of water to local farms last month, nearly five times that of the same period last year.

The drought is blamed on the weak seasonal monsoon this year with the rain front only affecting the southern coast and Jeju Island.

The monsoon season called "jangma" in Korean officially began on July 2 in the south and July 3 in the central region but no palpable rain is being reported.

An official at the KMA cites the early heat and the monsoon front failing to move north due to the weak North Pacific high pressure as reasons behind the drought.