The area for cultivating tropical fruits and vegetables in South Korea is expanding as the country experiences increasingly warmer temperatures. 

According to the Rural Development Administration on Thursday, cultivation areas for mangoes, bananas, passion fruits and other tropical fruits and vegetables grew to 428 hectares last year compared to 362 hectares in 2015. 

Such areas have expanded from southern parts of Jeju Island to include inland parts in the country's central region.

The agency forecast such areas will expand to one-thousand hectares by 2020 and more than 60 percent of crop areas will be growing tropical fruits by 2080, meaning two-thirds of the Korean Peninsula will become part of subtropical regions.