Seoul's summer too hot to handle, even for mosquitoes
The mosquito populations may rise in the fall however as temperatures drop.
The number of mosquitoes in Seoul has more than halved over the past decade, with experts pointing to extreme heat and a shortened monsoon season as key factors behind the sharp decline in mosquito activity.
According to statistics provided by the Seoul Metropolitan Government, up to 62,351 mosquitoes were collected through monitoring in June.
The city government noted that this was a 56 per cent decrease compared to its data from 2015, as the city saw up to 139,928 mosquitoes in the same month.
The recent figure is also lower than the mosquito count observed at the same time in 2024, which saw 68,462 mosquitoes.
Between June 17 and 19 — when high temperatures hovered near 37 deg C in the capital city — mosquito monitoring devices set up at 55 sites collected 6,233 mosquitoes, roughly averaging 2,000 mosquitoes per day.
According to the city government, this is a 20 per cent decrease compared to the same three-day period last year, which saw a daily average of up to 2,590.
The decrease in mosquito numbers has been attributed to cutting-edge pest control technology.
Top stories
Swipe. Select. Stay informed.
Singapore Singapore to train more aviation and maritime officials from around the world
Singapore Special edition SG60 Nets card now on sale for $10
Singapore Same person, but different S'porean Chinese names? How have such naming practices evolved?
Business Singapore's economy sees surprise expansion in Q2 despite US tariff uncertainty: Advance estimate
Life Pioneer performance artist Amanda Heng to represent Singapore at 2026 Venice Biennale
Singapore Jail for woman who opened bank accounts that received over $640.7m, including scam proceeds
Singapore Driver assisting with police probe after e-bike rider injured in hit-and-run accident in Hougang
Sport After Olympic heartbreak, Singaporean swimmer Chantal Liew turns pain into inspiration
For example, in districts such as Gangnam-gu in southern Seoul and Nowon-gu in northern Seoul, drones have been used to spray insecticide in areas inaccessible to vehicles, such as parks.
LED traps that attract insects, mosquito traps, as well as automatic repellent dispensers, have also been installed across Seoul to manage the summer pests.
Besides advanced pest control strategies, experts say the biggest factor behind the decline is the sweltering heat.
Seoul has consistently reported record-high summer temperatures in recent years, with each year surpassing temperature records set in the previous year.
'With high temperatures during the day hovering close to 37 deg C and tropical nights being consistently observed in Seoul, mosquitoes are finding it difficult to survive,' Professor Park Hyeon-cheol from Pusan National University's Department of Life Science and Environmental Biochemistry told The Korea Herald.
'Mosquitoes are normally active in temperatures ranging between 25 deg C to 28 deg C, and once such temperatures exceed 32 deg C, their survival becomes unlikely.'
Prof Park added that fewer mosquitoes may be observed during this summer in particular, as the monsoon season was noted to be particularly 'dry.'
The monsoon season has not been officially declared over in Seoul.
However, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration, on Jeju Island and in the southern parts of the country, it lasted just 15 days and 13 days, respectively.
This is less than half the duration recorded a decade ago, when monsoon seasons lasted for 30 days on Jeju Island and 36 days in the south.
'The lack of steady rainfall limits the formation of puddles, which are breeding grounds for mosquitoes,' said Prof Park. 'And even when it does rain, Korea also often sees sudden, intense downpours, which wash away mosquito eggs and larvae before they have a chance to hatch and develop.'
While the number of mosquitoes may decline during the summer season, higher mosquito numbers could be seen in the fall.
'A decline in mosquito numbers may be observed in the summer due to high temperatures,' Prof Park explained.
'However, as temperatures get relatively cooler, mosquito populations may rise from beginning to mid-September, with some continuing to be active into early winter.' THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles

Straits Times
13 minutes ago
- Straits Times
Pogacar crashes as anti-Israel protester disrupt Tour stage finale
Find out what's new on ST website and app. Cycling - Tour de France - Stage 11 - Toulouse to Toulouse - Toulouse, France - July 16, 2025 UAE Team Emirates XRG's Tadej Pogacar in action as spectators cheer on during stage 11 REUTERS/Benoit Tessier TOULOUSE, France - Defending champion Tadej Pogacar suffered a crash on the 11th stage of the Tour de France on Wednesday, moments before a protester disrupted the sprint finish where Norway's Jonas Abrahamsen claimed his first Tour stage victory. Slovenian Pogacar went down about five kilometres from the line after touching wheels with another rider but quickly remounted and the peloton eased off to allow the overall race favourite to rejoin. Pogacar thanked the group after crossing the finish line apparently unhurt and without losing time. "I'm quite okay, a bit beaten up, but we've been through worse days, so it's been a hectic day actually from start to finish," the UAE Team Emirates-XRG leader told reporters. "In the end, I had a little bit of a crash, and thanks to the peloton in front, they actually waited, obviously the race was more or less over back there, but still, they could have taken time. "Really big respect to everybody in front. Thanks for your support, guys." Ireland's Ben Healy, who retained the overall leader's yellow jersey, explained that he had a brief chat with two-time Tour champion Jonas Vingegaard, seen as Pogacar's main rival for the title, and both agreed they should wait for the Slovenian. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore Over 600 Telegram groups in Singapore selling, advertising vapes removed by HSA Singapore 2 weeks' jail for man caught smuggling over 1,800 vapes and pods into Singapore Singapore Jail for man who fatally hit his daughter, 2, while driving van without licence Sport 'Like being in a washing machine with 40 deg C water': Open water swimmers brave challenging conditions Singapore Primary 1 registration: 38 primary schools to conduct ballot in Phase 2A Singapore ComfortDelGro to introduce new taxi cancellation, waiting fee policy Business Cathay Cineplexes gets fresh demands to pay up $3.3m debt for Century Square, Causeway Point outlets Singapore Countering misinformation requires both laws and access to trusted news sources: Josephine Teo As the stage reached its dramatic conclusion, a protester wearing a T-shirt reading "Israel out of the Tour" and waving a Palestinian keffiyeh scarf ran onto the final straight, just 50 metres from the line. He was swiftly tackled by a security officer as Abrahamsen edged out Swiss national champion Mauro Schmid in a two-man sprint for the win. "I broke my collarbone four weeks ago. I cried at the hospital because I thought I wouldn't make it to the Tour de France," Abrahamsen said. "I hoped, and every day I did everything I could to come back. To stand here in the Tour de France and have won a stage is amazing." Tour organisers declined to comment on the incident while the Israel-Premier Tech team — which has no Israeli riders in this year's race — told Reuters they would issue a statement later on Wednesday. The protest came amid rising tensions over Israel's military operations in Gaza, where more than 58,000 Palestinians have been killed since October 2023, according to Gaza health authorities. Almost 1,650 Israelis and foreign nationals have been killed as a result of the conflict, including 1,200 killed in the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack, by Israeli tallies. Sources with a direct knowledge of the matter have told Reuters that other protests are planned on the Tour route. The day began at a blistering pace, with a five-man breakaway quickly forming ahead of a second group featuring classics specialists Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert. The peloton eventually backed off, allowing the front of the race to shape the outcome. On the punishing final climb — an 800-metre ascent averaging 12.4% — Abrahamsen and Schmid emerged at the front. Van der Poel launched a fierce pursuit but fell short. The focus now shifts to Thursday's stage 12, which brings the Tour's first high-mountain showdown with a summit finish on the legendary Hautacam and all eyes will be on Pogacar the day after his crash. REUTERS

Straits Times
13 minutes ago
- Straits Times
Seven arrest warrants issued in global swoop on suspected Russia-linked hackers
Find out what's new on ST website and app. FILE PHOTO: Silhouette of mobile device user is seen next to a screen projection of binary code are seen in this picture illustration taken March 28, 2018. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo ROME/BERLIN - Germany and Spain issued arrest warrants for seven suspected members of a pro-Russian hacking group accused of carrying out cyber attacks against critical infrastructure, arms makers, power companies and public authorities. The warrants resulted from an international operation involving law enforcement and judicial authorities including the U.S., France, Sweden, Italy, the Netherlands and Switzerland, German prosecutors and pan-European police agency Europol said in separate statements on Wednesday. German prosecutors said they had helped to coordinate the swoop on Tuesday in multiple countries in which 24 premises linked to the hacking group - which calls itself NoName057(16) - were searched, including one in Berlin and two in Bavaria in southeastern Germany. Germany issued six arrest warrants, five of them public, and Spain issued another. The NoName group had used the Telegram messaging app to enlist over 4,000 volunteers who made their systems available for swamping critical institutions' servers with so-called distributed denial of service attacks, the German prosecutors said. The premises searched included those linked to volunteers in the Telegram group, they said. In the past years the NoName collective, known for promoting Russian interests, has allegedly carried out successful cyberattacks in Ukraine and on government, infrastructure, banking, health services and telecom websites in European countries that have backed it against Russia. European authorities are increasingly concerned at the scale of the hybrid threats they say emanate from Russia, which is in the third year of its invasion of Western ally Ukraine. Those threats, which have included killings and alleged bomb plots against institutions and cargo aircraft, have largely been attributed to state actors. Russia has denied the accusation. In this case, prosecutors did not specifically link the suspects to the state. MEDIA ATTENTION "The aim of the attacks on German targets was to garner media attention and thereby influence political and social decision-making in Germany," prosecutors said in the statement. The prosecutors and Europol published names and pictures of five of the people they were seeking, all of them Russian citizens and presumed to be residing in Russia. A further German arrest warrant remains sealed. Prosecutors identified one of the Russian citizens as one of two leading figures in the group it was seeking. Europol said volunteers were recruited through Russian channels, chat groups, social media and messaging apps and that they often invited contacts from gaming and hacking forums. Italian authorities added in a separate statement that sympathisers were given lists of Western targets to hit and provided with the software needed to participate. They added that the organisation - which paid with cryptocurrencies - had a "central line of command and control in the Russian Federation". The group also ran its own botnet - a network of private computers infected with malware and controlled by hackers - of several hundred servers to amplify the impact, they said. Authorities in the Czech Republic, Finland, Lithuania and Poland contributed to the investigation, said Europol, which helped to coordinate it. REUTERS

Straits Times
43 minutes ago
- Straits Times
Family influence led Hungarian water polo brothers Vince and Vendel Vigvari to sporting heights
Hungarian Vince Vigvari in their 10-9 loss against Spain in the World Aquatics Championships Group B match on July 16. SINGAPORE – For as long as he can remember, sport has been a part of Vince Vigvari's life. Coming from a sporting family, the support of their household is what drove the 22-year-old and his brother, Vendel, who is a year older, to excel with Hungary's men's water polo team. 'It all comes from them, because if it weren't for the whole family, 100 per cent we wouldn't be here. 'My parents both were active athletes, and they kind of decided that we are going to play water polo. And from when I was eight years old, they were supporting us, like crazy. 'The whole family was driving us one hour every day to bring us to practice, and it's this kind of mentality and support that we received from them that followed us throughout our whole career,' said the 1.88m Vince. The duo are in Singapore with the Hungarian team vying to reclaim the World Aquatics Championships title which they won at the 2023 edition in Fukuoka, Japan. The Vigvari brothers have a strong sporting lineage. Their maternal grandparents are Pal Schmitt, a two-time Olympic fencing champion (1968 and 1972) and former Hungarian President from 2010 to 2012, and gymnast Katalin Makray, the 1964 Olympic silver medallist. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore Over 600 Telegram groups in Singapore selling, advertising vapes removed by HSA Singapore 2 weeks' jail for man caught smuggling over 1,800 vapes and pods into Singapore Singapore Jail for man who fatally hit his daughter, 2, while driving van without licence Sport 'Like being in a washing machine with 40 deg C water': Open water swimmers brave challenging conditions Singapore Primary 1 registration: 38 primary schools to conduct ballot in Phase 2A Singapore ComfortDelGro to introduce new taxi cancellation, waiting fee policy Business Cathay Cineplexes gets fresh demands to pay up $3.3m debt for Century Square, Causeway Point outlets Singapore Countering misinformation requires both laws and access to trusted news sources: Josephine Teo Their mother Petra Schmitt is a former tennis player and dad Csaba Vigvari is a former water polo player. Vince Vigvari (left) with his grandparents Pal Schmitt (right) and Katalin Makray (both Olympic medallists), says that family influence was key to their sporting success. PHOTO: COURTESY OF VINCE VIGVARI When asked if the brothers had a choice in selecting their sport when they were younger, Vince said: 'My parents discussed before they had their first child, and they decided that if it was going to be a girl, then she's going to play tennis. 'And if it's going to be a boy, they are going to go to the pool and learn to swim and then move to water polo. 'But obviously we had a choice and we wanted to do it. We admired our parents and our grandparents, and we (knew) we wanted to do sports.' (From left) Vendel Vigvari, Csaba Vigvari, Petra Schmitt and Vince Vigvari. PHOTO: COURTESY OF VINCE VIGVARI Being in the national team with his brother also gave Vince the push to reach greater heights. 'It means (everything to play together)... we are brothers, we grew up together in a super competitive environment, working, competing against each other,' added Vince. 'That's the other thing that I think helped us to get here to this level… The biggest plan together is to compete at the Olympic Games, and we just aspire to be our best selves and help each other where we can.' Despite scoring twice, Vince could not help Hungary get a win on July 16 as they faltered late in the 10-9 loss to Spain in their final Group B game. Vendel, who suffered a stomach bug after their first game win over Australia, is expected to recover in time for Hungary's play-off against Romania for a quarter-final spot. Vince admitted they lost to Spain after running out of steam in the final quarter. 'It's a bit sour in the end, but we will have to deal with it. We played an amazing three quarters... but we didn't have any energy left in the fourth quarter to make proper decisions and to close the game.' Spain, who qualified automatically to the quarter-finals, are joined by Italy, who finished top of Group A, Group C winners the United States, and Croatia, the winners of Group D. Those who finished second and third in their groups advanced to the July 18 crossover matches for spots in the quarter-finals. Those who finished bottom of their groups enter the classification matches. Hosts Singapore, who slumped to their biggest defeat of the competition in the 26-6 defeat by the United States in Group C, will face China, who finished bottom of Group D, in the 13th-16th classification match on July 18. Despite their heavy defeats, Singapore coach Kan Aoyagi saw some positives in the Republic men's maiden world championship run. He said: 'The US is one of the best teams in the world and I told the boys that we have nothing to lose and we must continue to fight. I think they did quite well and feel a bit more confident. 'We are teaching them now what the world standard is like, because previously they couldn't imagine (the level), because they never played with them before.'