No Love Lost as Global Heating Brings Plague of Insects to Seoul

Seoul residents are grappling with an invasion of "lovebugs" that are swarming hiking trails and urban areas across the South Korean capital, with experts debating how to handle infestations drawn further north by the climate crisis.

- Raphael Rashid

Footage shared on social media shows hiking trails and observation decks carpeted black with the insects on Gyeyangsan mountain in Incheon, west of Seoul.

Plecia longiforceps earned its nickname from the insects' distinctive mating behaviour, with couples flying attached during copulation.

Males die after three to four days, while females live for about a week, laying hundreds of eggs in humid soil before dying.

Originally from subtropical regions of south-eastern China, Taiwan and Japan's Ryukyu Islands, lovebugs were scientifically identified in South Korea for the first time during an outbreak in 2022.