Infested with Cockroaches: Seoul's Landmark Park Faces Emergency

[Anchor]

A park in Seoul, which the city spent 60 billion won to build with the goal of creating a pedestrian-friendly urban space, has recently gained notoriety as a "cockroach den." Some foreign tourists have even remarked that they went to enjoy the night view, only to see nothing but cockroaches.

Reporter Jeong Jiyeon visited the scene to see the situation for herself.

[Reporter]

Seoullo 7017 is an elevated pedestrian park that the Seoul Metropolitan Government transformed from an old overpass built in the 1970s at a cost of 60 billion won.

Since its opening in 2017, it has established itself as a popular spot for night views, but these days, it has become more famous for cockroaches than for its scenery.

In a video posted on social media by a foreign tourist in the middle of this month, a swarm of cockroaches can be seen crawling all over the park benches.

[Lee Min-young and Choi Jun-seo / Gangseo-gu, Seoul: We talked about it. We said the bridge is absolutely swarming with cockroaches. You would expect there to be no cockroaches here, since it is elevated and on a bridge.]

As photos and videos of cockroach swarms in various parts of the park continued to surface, the Seoul Metropolitan Government launched emergency pest control measures.

[Management Team Leader, Seoullo Management Office: We conducted the first round of pest control on June 18. We plan to carry out four additional rounds, once a month from July to October.]

Our reporting team visited the site one week after two rounds of pest control had been completed.

We were able to find cockroaches easily on the park floor and on the walls of the flower beds, and we even spotted baby cockroaches inside the planters.

Although the situation has improved slightly due to the pest control efforts, cockroaches are still appearing.

We even spotted two of them together near a tree.

It is a situation that is embarrassing for a tourist attraction.

The park has been taken over by the Japanese cockroach, a type of house cockroach. Experts suggest that because there are few natural predators on an elevated urban road, it will not be easy to eradicate them completely.

[Dahuk / YouTuber specializing in insects and reptiles: If they carry out the pest control very aggressively, I think the population will decrease significantly. However, the moment that quarantine stops, the numbers will increase again. I personally don't think there will ever be a time when you won't see cockroaches here at all.]

[Tagel / Tourist from Mongolia: My friend told me the night view was beautiful. If I see a lot of cockroaches in a public space, I think my perception of Korea would change.]

It is expected to take a considerable amount of time before pest control measures can fully address the issue at this tourist landmark.

(Video Editing: Lee Soyoung, VJ: Kim Hyungjin)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.