Seoul - At least five people have died in landslides, a drowning and an electrocution as hundreds were left homeless after heavy rains fell on South Korea, its disaster management agency said Friday.

The southern part of the country was the worst affected by Thursday's rains, which left more than 1,200 houses and 3,00 hectares of farmland under water, the National Emergency Management Agency said.

Landslides Thursday in and near the coastal city of Pusan killed three people while a 66-year-old woman drowned and a 42-year-old man was electrocuted while operating a water pump, the agency said.

Alone in Pusan, South Korea's second-largest city, 266.5 millimetres of rain fell Thursday.

The Korean Peninsula suffers regular flooding during the summer rainy season. (dpa)