South Korea raised its crisis alert Tuesday morning and launched emergency operations at the state disaster control tower as Typhoon Maysak - the season’s ninth storm - approached the Korean Peninsula.

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety said as of 9:00 a.m., the crisis alert was elevated from the lowest "attention" to "caution," while the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters began Level One emergency response.

The ministry plans to dispatch officials to regions forecast to be affected by the typhoon to check on and support local governments' preparedness.

The Korea Meteorological Administration(KMA) said as of 9:00 a.m. Tuesday, Maysak was traveling north-northwest from waters 200 kilometers west of Japan's Okinawa at a speed of 13 kilometers per hour.

The typhoon has a central pressure of 935 hectoPascal, accompanied by a maximum wind speed of 49 meters per second.

Maysak is expected to come near the southernmost Jeju Island Wednesday night, before landing close to the southeastern port city of Busan early Thursday.