189 Bedbug Reports in the Past Week... Government Holds Joint Response Meeting

On the 21st, the government held the 'Government Joint Response Meeting to Prevent the Spread of Bedbugs' at the Government Seoul Office and reviewed the 'bedbug occurrence status' and central and local government response situations over the past week since the last meeting (14th).

As reports of bedbugs continue nationwide, the government decided to operate a 'National Bedbug Joint Situation Board.' On the 7th, a bedbug-related promotional poster was put up in Yeongdeungpo jjokbangchon, Seoul. Photo by Jo Yongjun jun21@

Regarding bedbug reports and occurrences, 189 reports were received by the government including local governments last week (13th?19th), an increase of 34 cases compared to the previous week. Among these, 55 cases were confirmed bedbug occurrences (an increase of 16 cases from the previous week), and including 13 cases directly reported by private companies, the total is 68 cases (an increase of 12 cases from the previous week).

By city and province, Seoul (28 cases) and Gyeonggi-do (13 cases) had the highest occurrences, and by facility type, bedbugs mainly occurred in private homes (28 cases) and goshiwons (16 cases).

Additionally, today's meeting reviewed the results of the first week of the four-week 'Intensive Bedbug Inspection and Control Period' that began on the 13th. Approximately 37,000 facilities (30%) out of a total of about 120,000 target facilities were inspected in the first week, and 12 cases of bedbug occurrences (included in the total 68 cases) were confirmed and immediately controlled.

Most importantly, to provide information on bedbug control methods at home that meets the public’s level of understanding, a guide video on physical control methods that can be easily followed at home was created, and it will be actively promoted through SNS and advertisements.

Kim Young-soo, Director of the Social Coordination Office (chairing the meeting), stated, “The solution to blocking the spread of bedbugs lies in the public’s knowledge of how to identify bedbugs and active reporting, as well as thorough control by the government and facility managers,” and urged, “Please ensure thorough provision of related information so that the public can pay more attention to checking and reporting bedbug occurrences in their living spaces.”