I believe it. The people living in a beautiful “villa” in Hongdae (across from my old place) did the same thing a few years ago. They really had something great with the shrubs, trees, and flowers, but they monstered it. Progress?

One thing I’m still trying to figure out is R. Elgin’s freelance mozzie killers. What makes a guy wake up one day and say, “You know, I’m going to get a plain white truck, install a chemical spraying system, fill it with toxic chemicals, and go out spraying Kwanak-gu until I knock myself out, all on my own dime, cause that’s just the kind of guy I am?”

That is a good question. As I understand it, there are some local people who are absolutely convinced that fogging for mosquitoes is the best thing since Park Chung Hee and they collectively pool money to do this. Some years before now, they had some support from the local “dong” office, which is staffed by low-education amateurs with a strong sense of DIY ethics — right or wrong. They used to go out in their green and yellow jackets with slogans printed on their truck about how good they were to volunteer their time as resident idiots, driving around in the morning, spewing pesticide everywhere.

Mind you Wedge, my crazy neighbors, across the street from me actually paid another amateur 5 million Won to brutally cut back the beautiful ginkos and old lilacs around their complex. The results are so bad you would not believe it if you saw it.

If you are a Gu employee and a foreigner comes up to you with a question no Korean has ever asked, because it wouldn’t occur to them to ask, you’re best answer is: “Somebody without authorization is doing it.” Of course it’s a government function. Who else would pay for it?

Lol, you know what I used to do afterwards? I’d tell my parents that since I’ve played in the ‘disinfectant’ fog all day, I didn’t have to take a bath. X-D

OFF and other insect repellents - at least the regulated ones you will find in North American stores - are not of industrial strength. (There are some pretty scary ones that are sold in Myanmar and Cambodia, yet both countries have a much higher risk of malaria, not to mention dengue fever.) Repellents are also designed, as the name suggests, to repel insects. Pesticides, on the other hand, are often designed to kill insects, suggesting a much stronger product. Furthermore, one product is designed for individual use, while the other is sprayed all over the place, whether one wants it or not.

The additional point made in the posting is that spraying is not regulated - it is done differently from ward to ward, city to city, etc - and guidelines of usage aren’t being followed. Though most of us posting on this issue may be foreigners, it is the health of Koreans that is overwhelmingly being impacted by pesticide fogging in Korea.