AKIPRESS.COM - At least 18 people have died as multiple wildfires rage across South Korea's southeastern region, with thousands of firefighters aided by the military deployed in a bid to contain one of the country's worst forest fires in decades, Reuters reported.

The deadly wildfires have spread rapidly and forced more than 27,000 residents to flee their homes, the government said.

The blazes, fuelled by strong winds and dry weather, have razed entire neighbourhoods, closed schools and forced authorities to transfer hundreds of inmates from prisons.

"We are deploying all available personnel and equipment in response to the worst wildfires ever but the situation is not good," Acting President Han Duck-soo said, adding that the U.S. military in Korea was also assisting.

The Uiseong fire, only 68% contained and exacerbated by gusty winds, shows "unimaginable" scale and speed, said Lee Byung-doo, a forest disaster expert at the National Institute of Forest Science.

Dry conditions were expected to persist in the wildfire-hit region on Wednesday, the Safety Ministry said.

Climate change is projected to make wildfires more frequent globally, Lee said, citing the unusual timing of wildfires that ravaged part of Los Angeles in January and a recent wildfire in northeast Japan.