With heavy snow advisories issued for the southern and central regions on Wednesday, the government has activated a Level One emergency posture.

According to the interior ministry, the emergency posture was activated at 7 a.m. Wednesday, while the authorities raised the nation’s crisis alert level for heavy snow by a notch on its four-tier scale, from the lowest level, “attention,” to “caution.”

The Korea Meteorological Administration forecast that snow will fall at a rate of one to three centimeters per hour in North and South Jeolla, North and South Gyeongsang, Gyeonggi and North Chungcheong provinces, where heavy snow alerts are in place. 

The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters called on the relevant authorities to ensure the snowstorms will not cause the public any harm or inconvenience.

The headquarters instructed related agencies to mobilize all available resources to remove snow and ice from the roads to prevent accidents and rush-hour traffic congestion.