KBS Docu Insight to Spotlight Children Amid Heatwaves and Heavy Rain on October 8 at 10 PM

Children facing the climate crisis... Child actress Park So-yi meets 'Children of the Weather'!

Broadcast: Thursday, October 8, 2026, at 10 PM on KBS 1TV

A summer where heatwaves and heavy rain intersect chaotically, and the seasons of spring and autumn have shortened. Amidst the changing seasonal landscapes, the daily senses used to feel the world are also changing. Here are children who are growing up while facing the world of climate change with their entire bodies. Starting from the senses of children, we follow the memories and choices of people living through changed seasons, reflecting on our daily lives in the era of climate change.

Weather signals sent by small lives

Even when rain pours down, the children in the vegetable garden step on the soil, tend to crops, and look closely at grass and small insects. To children, weather is not information or numbers, but a world they first encounter with their bodies and minds.

Sound biologist Professor Jang I-gwon researches ecosystems and climate change by recording the sounds of nature and life. Along with Professor Jang, we observe the changes in living things that react sensitively to changes in temperature and seasons, moving and adapting their habitats.

However, during production, the crew met a child who notices the changes in nature in a special way. 'Cicada boy' Yu Jun-i can distinguish between more than six types of cicada sounds and mimics them himself. The change in one small life connects to another life. Even small changes that adults might pass by carelessly are signals that Yu Jun-i, who loves cicadas, cannot simply ignore.

Adults' weather, children's weather

The summer of 2026, where record-breaking heatwaves continued and sudden heavy rains poured. We look back at this summer's weather with weather specialist Shin Bang-sil. Between long and intense heatwaves, repeated heavy rains swung between extremes, shaking our daily lives. Heatwaves have now become a disaster, and we live in an era where 200 people perish from heatwaves in a single year. A summer like this year could happen again. With heatwaves that rarely end and heavy rains that pour without warning, remembering and properly understanding the weather is becoming increasingly important.

Gapa Island, a small island at the southern tip of Jeju. Haenyeo and photographer Yu Yong-ye has been recording the sea of Gapa Island for a long time. However, due to climate change over the past 10 years, the sea of Gapa Island is losing its vitality. Increased water temperatures have devastated the underwater fishing grounds that were once abundant with seaweed, conch, and abalone, threatening the lives of the haenyeo.

Elementary school student Ye-jun is the only child on Gapa Island. While adults remember the weather and sea before the changes, Ye-jun has experienced the changed weather and sea since birth. Yu Yong-ye intends to record the weather and sea of Gapa Island through photos with Ye-jun, leaving the precious remaining images of Gapa Island in Ye-jun's memory.

Choices made by weather sensitivity

Broadcaster Julian Quintart is a climate activist who continues small daily practices to combat climate change. Growing up in a small rural village in Belgium, Julian felt deep sadness over the disappearance of the weather and landscapes he loved in his childhood due to climate change, and learned the importance of climate and the environment. The sensitivity built through interacting with nature in his childhood greatly influences his current life and choices.

He picks up trash on the beach, reduces single-use items, and chooses a life of consuming and discarding a little less. The actions of one person cannot solve the climate crisis all at once. However, if one does not turn away from what they feel, they can change the world bit by bit in their lives. The 'Children of the Weather' who grew up feeling the weather and nature close by have thus become adults who think about and act regarding climate change.

Children of the weather come out to the plaza

"I remember crying uncontrollably with great anger, thinking, 'Why is everyone ignoring such a serious climate crisis even though they all know about it?'" - Song Ha-yul / 1st year of high school -

High school students with a great interest in the climate crisis gathered in one place. They are children who usually pay attention to changes in nature and the environment and accept the climate crisis as a problem facing their lives and futures. Having clearly felt that something is going wrong due to climate change, the children intend to make their clear voices heard to actively deal with the climate crisis. The children ask why the future they will live in must be decided only by the thoughts and responses of adults right now. The children created a manifesto to be read at the 'Climate Justice' march, containing their thoughts and concerns.

On September 19, 2026, the children came out to the plaza shouting for climate justice. They read the manifesto with their own voices and march proudly through the streets with those who share their intentions. Feeling the climate becomes a question to some, a voice to others, and an action to some more. The children who have felt the weather and nature with their bodies and minds are now taking a step forward for the world they will live in.

Child actress Park So-yi, who has been loved for her clear and delicate acting, participates as the narrator for 'Children of the Weather'. Actress Park So-yi will convey the stories of children and people living in the changed weather, and the nature and life they face, with her characteristic clear and transparent voice.

Docu Insight> 'Children of the Weather' will be broadcast on Thursday, October 8, 2026, at 10 PM on KBS 1TV.

(Photo credit = KBS 1TV 'Docu Insight')

Read the original (Korean)