South Korea has launched a pangovernmental initiative to combat the proliferation of bedbugs in a comprehensive manner, driven by growing concerns over the pest spreading nationwide, fueled by the recent surge in reports of bedbug infestations.

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety has taken the lead in assembling a pan-governmental task force, initiated last Friday, comprising ten relevant ministries and local governments.

The objective of this joint effort is promptly and efficiently to stop the spread of bedbugs by mobilizing each ministry's capabilities.

For example, the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency will share the current status of reports of and countermeasures for bedbugs, while the Ministry of Environment will share measures to manage the supply and demand of control products such as insecticides.

Following the announcement about the task force, the team decided to set up a bedbug infestation status board on Monday. When a bedbug infestation is reported, where and how many bedbugs were found by region will be shown on the status board for monitoring beginning Tuesday.

As additional harm could occur to facilities if it is made public that bedbugs were discovered there, the task force plans to decide later whether to disclose the status board carefully.