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Many people are still leaving behind trash at valleys during the peak summer vacation season.

Reporter Kim Gyu-ri visited the scene to check the situation firsthand.

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This is Sillim Valley in Gwanaksan Mountain, which has gained widespread attention on social media this summer.

With a knee-deep water level, it is an ideal spot for children to ride tubes and enjoy playing in the water.

Because it is accessible by public transportation, the number of visitors has more than doubled compared to last year, but sights that make people cringe have also increased.

An entire leftover watermelon has been discarded on one side of the valley, already swarming with bugs.

[Gwanak Sillim Valley Safety Guard: A lot of people come here at night to drink. Often, we collect as many as four of the largest trash bags. This was probably eaten early this morning.]

We visited Myeongji Valley in Gapyeong, Gyeonggi Province—a popular spot among vacationers—early in the morning alongside valley keepers from the local government who were out collecting trash.

Trash was scattered around vacationers enjoying the water, and some even discarded leftover food inside their containers.

[Gapyeong Myeongji Valley Keeper: Even kimchi containers are left like this. Leftovers. Watermelon. It is a relief that this isn't kimchi. Oh, the smell.]

Various fruits were left rotting in boxes, alongside ramyeon packets, snack bags, beer cans, and even used baby diapers.

[Gapyeong Myeongji Valley Keeper: People stuff trash into piles of rocks and leave them behind, which leads to maggots and other pests appearing.]

Some people have even abandoned bulky disposable tents or large inner tubes before leaving.

[Gapyeong Myeongji Valley Keeper: They bring things that are likely to break, play with them, and just leave them all behind when they go.]

After cleaning up for about 30 minutes with the valley keepers, ten 50-liter trash bags were filled to the brim.

Some vacationers have even cut through steel fences to enter restricted zones without authorization.

[Yoon Ho-young / Stream Management Team, Gapyeong County Office: They climb over the fences. This is a cliff area. We blocked it off because falling could be fatal, but even after we blocked it, they cut through to get in.]

Signs prohibiting cooking and camping posted everywhere are being ignored, prompting some valleys to implement special crackdowns this summer.

[Stream Management Team, Nowon District Office: We consider until the end of August to be the peak season, so we are deploying personnel accordingly.]

A mature civic consciousness is urgently needed to keep our precious valleys clean and safe—places that make us forget even the most murderous heatwaves.

(Video by Lee Byeong-joo | Video Editing by Ahn Yeo-jin | VJ: Noh Jae-min | Design: Cho Su-in)