Bedbug Infestation Hits Bucheon Goshiwon This Time... "Moved to a New Room, but Still There"

Bucheon City "Goshiwon is Free Business"
Bedbug Reports Continue Nationwide
"Estimated Overseas Influx After COVID-19"

Recently, reports of bedbug infestations have been spreading across the country, and a complaint has been raised about bedbugs appearing in a gosiwon in Bucheon City, Gyeonggi Province.

Bedbugs appearing in a goshiwon in Bucheon.
[Photo by MBC]

According to Bucheon City on the 23rd, a complaint call was received at the Bucheon 365 Call Center that morning stating, "Bedbugs appeared in the gosiwon." The complainant, Mr. A, reportedly said, "I was bitten by bedbugs and received hospital treatment," and requested the city to take some action.

Bucheon City plans to contact the gosiwon owner to provide manuals and quarantine guidelines for bedbug control. Since bedbugs are not insects that transmit or spread legally designated infectious diseases, the city has decided not to conduct any special on-site investigations or verifications.

A Bucheon City official stated, "In the case of the sauna in Incheon where bedbugs were recently found, the facility is subject to the Public Health Act, but gosiwons are considered private businesses and are not subject to city permits or management," adding, "Since it is a place that must be privately controlled, we plan only to inform them of the relevant manuals."

A claims to have been bitten by bedbugs in the photo.
[Photo by MBC News Screen Capture]

In an interview with MBC, Mr. A said, "I sent videos and photos to a pest control company, and they confirmed it was bedbugs," adding, "The pest control company said the bedbugs seem to have spread throughout the entire gosiwon and advised me to move out."

He explained his situation to the gosiwon and moved to a new room, but bedbugs appeared there as well, and later he claimed that bedbugs were found on his clothes, walls, and even in the shared kitchen.

However, the gosiwon management only said that pest control could not be done immediately and, despite Mr. A’s severe itching from bedbug bites, they merely told him to wash the affected areas with cold water and endure it, revealing a careless response that caused regret.

Earlier, on the 13th, live adult bedbugs and larvae were found in a sauna in Seo-gu, Incheon, leading to a temporary suspension of operations. Additionally, around mid-last month, bedbugs were discovered in a dormitory at Keimyung University in Daegu, with reports of students being bitten.

Bedbugs mainly seek warm places at night to feed on blood. Although they do not transmit infectious diseases, their bites cause severe itching.

In Korea, the bedbug population sharply declined in the 1960s due to the Saemaul Undong movement and the introduction of DDT insecticides in the 1970s, but recently, reports of bedbug sightings have been increasing nationwide.

Authorities and experts believe that the recent resurgence of bedbugs likely originated from overseas. One reason is that before bedbugs reappeared domestically, there were already reports of bedbug outbreaks in major cities such as France and the United Kingdom, raising alarms. The sauna in Incheon where bedbugs were recently found is also a facility frequently visited by foreign tourists, and the Daegu dormitory was known to have housed foreign students.