This is Anbandegi in Gangneung, located at a high altitude of 1,100 meters.

It is the largest alpine vegetable cultivation complex in South Korea.

Even in midsummer, temperatures used to be cool, making it advantageous for alpine farming. However, as temperatures have continued to exceed 30°C recently, farmers' worries are growing.

[Kim Bong-rae / Chairperson, Gangneung Farmers' Association: As the heatwave continues, the existing cabbages are simply scalded right there in the heatwave. A phenomenon where they turn soft and just collapse is happening right now.]

Summer alpine napa cabbages are typically shipped two months after planting the seedlings, but when temperatures exceed 30°C, the likelihood of pests and soft rot increases significantly.

[Mo Jae-sung / G1 Broadcasting Reporter: As the heatwave continues, some cabbages are rotting away like this due to disease.]

If you look inside, there is a considerable amount of moisture and a foul odor is lingering.

This crisis facing alpine vegetables is accelerating every year as temperatures rise.

As a result, an increasing number of farming households in Anbandegi, Gangneung—famous for alpine napa cabbage—are turning to cultivating cabbages, which are more resistant to high temperatures.

[Yang Won-ju / Cabbage Farmer: Because it is hot, soft rot occurs, and inside, a condition called rust turns things black, or physiological disorders like leaf blight happen, so the outside looks fine, but the inside is rotting away.]

As temperatures rise, diseases that did not previously exist in alpine regions are also appearing.

If droughts or typhoons overlap, the damage is highly likely to increase.

[Lee Young-gyu / Head of Alpine Napa Cabbage Research Laboratory, Highland Agriculture Research Institute: There is a trend where the occurrence of a new disease, Fusarium wilt, is rapidly increasing. What used to be about 100 hectares in 2023 has now increased to more than 200 hectares...]

With even alpine vegetables being threatened by climate change, changes in the agricultural authorities' napa cabbage supply and demand policies seem inevitable.

Rotting completely and collapsing into mush with a foul odor... Even diseases that never existed before have emerged (August 3, 2026, 8 News)

(Reported by Mo Jae-sung from G1 | Produced by Bae Jun-hwi | Filmed by Shin Ik-gyun from G1 | Produced by SBS Digital News)