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"The worst drought in 104 years is causing damage to our agricultural and livestock industries, resulting in price hikes in some farm products," Finance Minister Bahk Jae-wan told a crisis management meeting Tuesday. South Korean Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik visited Hwaseong south of Seoul on Tuesday and watered a dry crop field with a hose. Beneath a blazing sun, dead fish could be seen on the nearly dried-out bed of a reservoir at Bongdam village in Hwaseong. South Korea expected rain over the weekend, the Korea Meteorological Administration said in Seoul. The agency cannot confirm the dry spell reported in North Korea, but dispatches sent by North Korea to an international weather center indicated little rain over the past several weeks in the North as well, spokesman Jang Hyun-sik said in Seoul. The drought also has led to deaths of a highly endangered species living in a reservoir in the southern city of Nonsan in South Korea. Hundreds of cockscomb pearl mussels have died since June 14 because the reservoir's water level has drastically dropped, local official Lee Soo-jung said. Officials have been trying to move the cockscomb pearl mussels to water, she said. Officials blamed high atmospheric pressure over the Korean Peninsula for the drought.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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