Anchor: Prices of popular summer crops have spiked due to extreme weather conditions on the Korean Peninsula. The recent heavy downpours of rain have caused the price of cucumbers and watermelons to increase.
Our Park Jong-hong has more.

Report: The prices of cucumbers and watermelons have sharply increased as the country’s major production areas of the summer crops were hit by heavy downpours this month.
 
The price rises are expected to add a burden on low-income households as the prices of other vegetables already shot up due to sweltering heat that hit the country.
 
According to the Korea Agro-Fisheries and Food Trade Corporation on Monday, the average retail price of cucumbers stood at ten-thousand-872 won per ten cucumbers as of Friday, up 90 percent from previous years.
 
The average retail price of watermelons marked 17-thousand-912 won, up 14 percent from previous years.
 
The rises are attributed to the massive flooding of greenhouse facilities for the crops in North Jeolla and Chungcheong Provinces.
 
According to the Korea Rural Economic Institute, Cheonan and Jincheon in Chungcheong Province, the main production sites for cucumbers and watermelons, received 622 millimeters and 483 millimeters of rain each for the first 16 days of the month, much more than previous years.
 
Heavy rain flooded about 200 cucumber greenhouse facilities in the Aunae area of Cheonan, which accounts for 15 percent of the total cucumber shipments for July.
 
About 70 percent of watermelon greenhouse facilities in Iksan, North Jeolla Province were submerged.
Park Jong-hong, KBS World Radio News.