Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Bondrock]

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2009/01/117_38043.html

Bedbug found in 20 years? What a silly headline...

[wylies99]

Bedbugs were found in Korea for the first time in 20 years, and experts suspect they came from the United States.

A Yonsei University research team led by professor Yong Tai-soon of the Medical College's parasitology department said Sunday that it confirmed an insect, which a 30-year-old woman caught in her room and brought to them in December 2007, to be a bedbug.

The bedbug, a brown, 6.5-9-millimeter-long nocturnal insect, is best adapted to a human environment and feeds on human or animal blood. As the living environment has gotten cleaner, they have not been found here for the past two decades.

The unidentified woman had bug bites on her hands, feet and other parts of her body when she visited the Severance Hospital. She had not slept properly for weeks because of the irritating bugs, according to the researchers.

The team inspected her home and found dead bedbugs and their larvae in not only her home but also other homes of the building, as the reproducing insects had spread to other parts of the building.

The researchers concluded that the species is from the U.S.

``The woman started living in the house about nine months before the biting incident after coming back from a long-term stay in New Jersey. Other rooms where the bugs were found have also been rented mainly to foreigners or Korean-Americans,'' Yong said.

Epidemic prevention measures were taken on the building, but the woman and other tenants moved out immediately after learning that the insects were bedbugs, according to the team.

``We suspect that it was not a Korean bedbug, which disappeared here over 20 years, but that an American bedbug that penetrated through the quarantine system. It indicates the importance of preventive measures against not only infectious disease but also vermin,'' Yong said.

The study result was published in the December edition of the journal of the Korean Society for Parasitology.

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[Bigfeet]

Wow, I didn't think you could eradicate bedbugs from a whole country. Impressive!

[victorology]

[T-J]

Kimchi kills bedbugs.

[VanIslander]

I hear...

Hillary is recommending an immediate boycott of them,
Obama is assigning emissaries and scientists to prepare for high level talks and a possible Bedbug Summit,
Congress is calling for a bed manufacturer bailout,

and Bush is rumoured to be brokering a last-minute deal between a chemical pesticide company and a private defense contractor to hunt down and destroy every last one

[NoExplode]

I like to copy/paste articles written by Koreans, just to see who they steal their information from. Usually it's wikipedia, like this story is.

[NoExplode]

Bedbugs were originally brought to the United States by early colonists from Europe.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bedbug

HAHA! Dirty Europeans!

[bassexpander]

I'm sure they probably came from the USA. The lady lived there -- probably in a dumpy low-rent apartment -- where other people from around the globe were forced to live as well.

Those bugs could have come from about anywhere.

[ryoga013]

[ruffie]

You guys shouldn't laugh at this. It's well known that Koreans possess a unique gene that makes them susceptible to American bedbug bites. Also, If economically strapped Koreans return to preparing that age old delicacy, bedbugdeigii, the consequences will be dire, as the recipe calls for use of all parts of the bedbug, including head, brains, tail,intestines, marrow, etc. While some street vendors may claim that their bedbugdeigii is made from pure Korean bedbugs (deemed universally safe and national treasure number 2802 by Korean researchers despite never been subjected to any international testing standards) there is still the remote chance that the dreaded American big nosed bedbug will slip into the mix.

Lee Won Suk, a SNU Korean Folklore PHD Candidate, summed up the public's fears. "I study all my life to get a good company job, and one evening I could go to bed and just die."

Even local media personalities are chiming in on the scare. Boy band SSflowerboyPrettyStory has publicly stated that they would rather die than eat American bedbugdeigii, and will sleep in hermetically sealed plastic bags during their upcoming American debut concert tour at New Jersey's best shopping malls.

On a legal note, Korean prosecutors have issued warrants for the arrest of the two American pilots who flew the plane carrying the infested bedsheets.

[steroidmaximus]

[travelingfool]