When news broke about a bedbug outbreak in his native South Korea, 29-year-old blockchain engineer and self-professed insectophobe Kang Jae-gu got straight to work — on the data.
As authorities scrambled to install high-temperature steam heaters at the airport and approve industrial-strength insecticides for home use, Kang started mapping reported infestations.
South Korea has been largely bedbug-free for years, but it has seen a surge in infestations as travel has rebounded after the pandemic — with more than 100 cases of the bloodsucking pests reported since late November, official statistics show.
Photo: AFP
And while the public has bugged out — and media coverage has spiraled — thousands of people have turned to Kang’s Web site, bedbugboard.com, for a sober data-driven look at the outbreak.
“I am extremely sensitive to insects, so I sleep under a mosquito net throughout all four seasons,” Kang said.
His fear of bedbugs drove him to create an interactive map that shows the approximate locations of reported infestations across the country, as well as real-time news stories on the issue. The site now receives as many as 50,000 visitors a day, up from around 40 when Kang launched it. He used a soothing olive-green color scheme to try and create “peace of mind” for readers, but he said that having to look at photographs of the critters and their eggs to run the Web site still gives him “goosebumps.”
Photo: AFP
FROM PARIS?
The bedbug invasion of Seoul comes on the heels of a similar outbreak in Paris, which is set to host the Olympic Games next year.
A surge of reported sightings of the creatures sent a shudder through France during the summer and fall — prompting several school closures nationwide. Public concern has also spread to Britain and Algeria.
In South Korea, 44 percent of reported cases have been in so-called gosiwon — cheap, tiny housing units typically measuring less than five square meters.
Other affected locations include student dormitories, public bathhouses, and extremely small housing units known as jjokbang, which often lack basic amenities such as bathrooms or kitchens.
Authorities have swung into gear, with Seoul city government allocating 700 million won (US$500,000) to defend residents in vulnerable housing from the invading pests. Incheon International Airport, the main airport serving the capital, plans to install high-temperature steam heaters this month to prevent the entry of the bugs into the country.
Photo: AFP
Seoul also recently approved Neonicotinoids, a class of insecticides used widely on farms, for home use against bedbugs.
“The city of Seoul defines the inconvenience and concern of citizens caused by bedbugs as a significant public health issue,” said Park Yu-mi, an official at the Seoul Metropolitan Government.
The city “seeks to take the lead in implementing countermeasures,” she added.
HARD TO REMOVE
Bedbugs have appeared in greater numbers in recent decades, mostly due to high population densities, people taking more holidays and mass transit.
In France, one in 10 households are believed to have had a bedbug problem over the past few years, usually requiring a pest control operation costing hundreds of euros that often needs to be repeated.
The critters bite people to feed on their blood, creating wounds that can be itchy but do not usually cause other health problems. But exposure to bedbug droppings can trigger asthmatic attacks while bites can cause rashes or more severe reactions such as anaphylaxis, and even depression.
South Korean experts said the insects are particularly hard to eradicate.
“Bedbugs can live for over 100 days even if they do not eat properly. They are thin and also hide well,” Kim Ju-hyeon, a professor at Seoul National University’s school of tropical medicine, said in a YouTube video.
Kang plans to keep his website running until the South Korean outbreaks subside.
He said he has never personally experienced an infestation, but “I can imagine how stressful it would be if that happened to me.”
Taiwanese chip-making giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) plans to invest a whopping US$100 billion in the US, after US President Donald Trump threatened to slap tariffs on overseas-made chips. TSMC is the world’s biggest maker of the critical technology that has become the lifeblood of the global economy. This week’s announcement takes the total amount TSMC has pledged to invest in the US to US$165 billion, which the company says is the “largest single foreign direct investment in US history.” It follows Trump’s accusations that Taiwan stole the US chip industry and his threats to impose tariffs of up to 100 percent
On a hillside overlooking Taichung are the remains of a village that never was. Half-formed houses abandoned by investors are slowly succumbing to the elements. Empty, save for the occasional explorer. Taiwan is full of these places. Factories, malls, hospitals, amusement parks, breweries, housing — all facing an unplanned but inevitable obsolescence. Urbex, short for urban exploration, is the practice of exploring and often photographing abandoned and derelict buildings. Many urban explorers choose not to disclose the locations of the sites, as a way of preserving the structures and preventing vandalism or looting. For artist and professor at NTNU and Taipei
March 10 to March 16 Although it failed to become popular, March of the Black Cats (烏貓進行曲) was the first Taiwanese record to have “pop song” printed on the label. Released in March 1929 under Eagle Records, a subsidiary of the Japanese-owned Columbia Records, the Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese) lyrics followed the traditional seven characters per verse of Taiwanese opera, but the instrumentation was Western, performed by Eagle’s in-house orchestra. The singer was entertainer Chiu-chan (秋蟾). In fact, a cover of a Xiamen folk song by Chiu-chan released around the same time, Plum Widow Missing Her Husband (雪梅思君), enjoyed more
Last week Elbridge Colby, US President Donald Trump’s nominee for under secretary of defense for policy, a key advisory position, said in his Senate confirmation hearing that Taiwan defense spending should be 10 percent of GDP “at least something in that ballpark, really focused on their defense.” He added: “So we need to properly incentivize them.” Much commentary focused on the 10 percent figure, and rightly so. Colby is not wrong in one respect — Taiwan does need to spend more. But the steady escalation in the proportion of GDP from 3 percent to 5 percent to 10 percent that advocates
RSS