The eradication of bedbugs has recently become a major issue in South Korea. In North Korea, bedbugs are common in ordinary homes and detention facilities, yet the authorities do nothing to eradicate them or stop their spread.
“Bedbugs have long been in Hoeryong and other places in North Hamgyong Province,” a source in the province told Daily NK on Nov. 24, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons. “Even if you apply bedbug pesticide in every corner of the house, it’s only a temporary fix, and they’ll reappear after a few days. It’s hard to wipe them out completely.”
According to the source, bedbugs are so common that in rural communities, nearly every home has them. Bedbugs often infest larch trees, which North Korean homes frequently use to make blanket closets or cupboards.
Entering a rural home, one can easily spot bedbugs climbing the walls, day or night. Even if people use pesticides, they are left with nothing but toxic fumes as the bedbugs simply reappear a few days later. So, many people have given up on pesticides, opting merely to swat bedbugs when they appear, the source said.
“In North Korea, people call bedbugs a villain because they spread quickly and won’t die when you spray pesticide. Maybe it’d work if every house fumigated itself simultaneously. But for a single home to try to exterminate bedbugs on its own is a waste of effort because they’ll continue to spread anyway, no matter how hard the occupants try.
“People say they don’t even use bedbug pesticide now, perhaps because bedbugs have become chronic. Still, some people can’t sleep at night because of the bedbugs, and they suffer from redness and itchiness where they’ve been bitten.”
Detention centers are crawling with bedbugs
The source also told Daily NK that forced labor camps in Hoeryong are infested with bedbugs, tormenting the inmates, yet the authorities do nothing about the problem.
“In forced labor camps, inmates must work from when they open their eyes in the morning to night, and even when they can shut their eyes at night, they suffer from bedbugs. The inmates have no choice but to put up with it until the end of their sentences because if they ask for measures to be taken, the only thing they’ll get in return is a beating.
“The government doesn’t quarantine or exterminate bedbugs even for ordinary people who committed zero crimes, so nobody is going to listen to people who’ve been sent to forced labor camps for crimes. Even if the camps are swarming with bedbugs, the authorities don’t care or do anything to help.”
Translated by David Black. Edited by Robert Lauler.
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