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Twenty-seven people have died of heat stroke and more than 2,200 people have been taken to the hospital for heat-related conditions as of Tuesday as South Korea has been hit by an extreme heat wave forecast to reach its highest temperature in the coming days.

This year's number of heat casualties appears to have jumped from last summer when 1,574 patients and 11 deaths related to heat were reported, The Straits Times reports, citing the Korea Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

South Koreans are also enduring days of tropical nights, during which the lowest temperature remains above 25 deg C from 6pm to 9am the next day.

The blistering heat wave with daytime highs hovering around 35 deg C is to continue until the end of this week, according to the state weather agency. The temperature is 4 to 7 deg C higher than the last year's average summer temperature.

"Usually, we see the hottest days early to mid-August. So the hot weather is likely to continue," an official from the KMA told The Korea Herald.

While several factors are behind the extreme heat wave this year, the main cause is the high atmospheric pressure from northern China and southern Mongolia which has expanded to reinforce the North Pacific anticyclone, the official explained.