Gangseo-gu Steps Up Summer ‘Lovebug’ Control; District Mayor Jin Kyo-hoon Personally Sprays 400m from Balsan Station to Ujangsan Station as Complaints Fall More Than Half, from 969 to 430

Mayor Jin Kyo-hoon inspects the scene with a backpack sprayer on his shoulder; environmental cleanup and an intensive control period cut the insect population

Song Jung-sook, Reporter Posted 2026/07/02 [19:02] Article No. 51701

As Seoul’s Gangseo-gu ramps up efforts to control the so-called ‘lovebug’ (Plecia longiforceps), which swarms in large numbers each summer, District Mayor Jin Kyo-hoon visited an affected area in person on Thursday, July 2, to take part in control operations. That day, Jin carried a backpack sprayer along a roughly 400-meter stretch running from Balsan Station on Subway Line 5 toward Ujangsan Station, carrying out control work while taking a close look at the inconvenience residents face from the lovebug outbreaks and at the district’s overall response measures. The district said that through preemptive prevention and intensive control, it had cut related complaints by more than half, from 969 in 2024 to 430 the following year.

The lovebug poses no direct harm to people and is not toxic, so it is not officially classified as a pest. Even so, it emerges in swarms for a short period in summer and clings to windows, exterior walls and roads, adding to residents’ daily inconvenience. The problem is especially acute in areas of the city bordered by mountains and parks, where mass outbreaks generate the same complaints year after year. The mayor’s on-site operation was carried out to personally check the response and review measures as that inconvenience mounted.

About a dozen people took part in the day’s control work, including Jin and members of a rapid-response control team. Alongside the spraying, workers handed out leaflets explaining how to deal with lovebugs when they appear, so that residents in homes and shops beyond the reach of control crews could respond on their own. Going beyond simply spraying pesticide to also share guidance on what residents should do is seen as a step aimed at both reducing the insect population and easing everyday inconvenience.

Gangseo-gu is also stepping up work to fundamentally reduce the insect population. It has carried out environmental cleanups that remove fallen leaves and leaf mold from mountains and parks, the lovebug’s main habitats, thereby cutting back the very conditions in which larvae can grow, and it has kept up intensive spraying by operating a separate ‘intensive control period.’ The approach combines reactive measures, spraying pesticide in step with the outbreak season, with preventive ones that address the breeding environment in advance.

The effect of the intensive control shows up in the complaint figures as well. Lovebug-related complaints exploded to 969 in 2024, but fell by more than half to 430 the following year. So far in 2026, 37 complaints have been filed, and the count for this week stood at zero. Given that this is the time when summer outbreaks begin in earnest, the district said the figures stand in sharp contrast to previous years.

[코리안투데이] Lovebug control operation © 송정숙 기자

“With easing residents’ inconvenience as our top priority, we will continue to press ahead with intensive lovebug control,” Mayor Jin Kyo-hoon said. “We will bring about changes that residents can feel firsthand in their daily lives.” The district said it plans to continue pairing habitat cleanups with intensive control while keeping the outbreak situation under constant review.

Photo captions (in order): Lovebug control | Lovebug control