SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Swarms of “lovebugs” are back in South Korea, blanketing a mountain peak, entering houses and sticking to car windows.
Flying attached to one another while mating, the insects, known to scientists as Plecia nearctica, are also called united bugs, double-headed bugs or honeymoon flies.
Lovebugs were first detected in large numbers in northwestern Seoul in 2022. Now, hordes of lovebugs appear throughout the city and some nearby areas, mainly between late June and early July each year.
The insects do not transmit diseases or sting humans, but there have been increasing public complaints about lovebugs sticking to car windows and the walls of houses, restaurants and subway trains.
Clouds of lovebugs recently hovered over the peak of Gyeyang Mountain in Incheon city, just west of Seoul. The lovebugs swarmed observation decks as workers constantly shoveled dead insects from the ground, according to videos shown on local TV stations.
“Compared with the past two years, the number of lovebugs sharply surged last weekend at the mountain,” Gyeyang district official Wang Hyeon-jeong said Tuesday.
The 395-meter (1,295-feet) mountain has likely provided the type of hot, humid weather conditions in which lovebugs thrive, the Environment Ministry said, possibly leading to the insect population surge.
In Seoul and other areas, it is not yet clear whether there have been more lovebugs than in previous years. The ministry said it will review the seriousness of this year's case after the insects disappear, likely by mid-July.
South Korean officials view lovebugs as beneficial insects, saying they help pollinate flowers as their larvae convert plant materials into organic components. They said they avoid chemical pesticides when coping with the large insect population, instead spraying them with water and using stick pads.
Many experts say the flow of lovebugs to South Korea, likely from China, is associated with the country's warming temperature and is linked to climate change.
A telescope is covered with lovebugs on the summit of Mount Gyeyang in Incheon, South Korea, Monday, June 30, 2025. (Im Soon-shuck/Yonhap via AP)
A woman tries to avoid a swarm of lovebugs on the summit of Mount Gyeyang in Incheon, South Korea, Monday, June 30, 2025. (Im Soon-shuck/Yonhap via AP)
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Ahn Sung-ki, one of South Korean cinema’s biggest stars whose prolific 60-year career and positive, gentle public image earned him the nickname “The Nation’s Actor,” died Monday. He was 74.
Ahn, who had suffered blood cancer for years, was pronounced dead at Seoul's Soonchunhyang University Hospital, his agency, the Artist Company, and hospital officials said.
“We feel deep sorrow at the sudden, sad news, pray for the eternal rest of the deceased and offer our heartfelt condolences to his bereaved family members," the Artist Company said in a statement.
President Lee Jae Myung issued a condolence message saying Ahn provided many people with comfort, joy and time for reflection. “I already miss his warm smile and gentle voice,” Lee wrote on Facebook.
Born to a filmmaker in the southeastern city of Daegu in 1952, Ahn made his debut as a child actor in the movie “The Twilight Train” in 1957. He subsequently appeared in about 70 movies as a child actor before he left the film industry to live an ordinary life.
In 1970, Ahn entered Seoul’s Hankuk University of Foreign Studies as a Vietnamese major. Ahn said he graduated with top honors but failed to land jobs at big companies, who likely saw his Vietnamese major largely useless after a communist victory in the Vietnam War in 1975.
Ahn returned to the film industry in 1977 believing he could still excel in acting. In 1980, he rose to fame for his lead role in Lee Jang-ho’s “Good, Windy Days,” a hit coming-of-age movie about the struggle of working-class men from rural areas during the country’s rapid rise. Ahn won the best new actor award in the prestigious Grand Bell Awards, the Korean version of the Academy Awards.
He later starred in a series of highly successful and critically acclaimed movies, sweeping best actor awards and becoming arguably the country’s most popular actor in much of the 1980-90s.
Some of his memorable roles included a Buddhist monk in 1981’s “Mandara,” a beggar in 1984’s “Whale Hunting,” a Vietnam War veteran-turned-novelist in 1992’s “White Badge,” a corrupt police officer in 1993’s “Two Cops,” a murderer in 1999’s “No Where To Hide,” a special forces trainer in 2003’s “Silmido” and a devoted celebrity manager in 2006’s “Radio Star.”
Ahn had collected dozens of trophies in major movie awards in South Korea, including winning the Grand Bell Awards for best actor five times, an achievement no other South Korean actors have matched yet.
Ahn built up an image as a humble, trustworthy and family-oriented celebrity who avoided major scandals and maintained a quiet, stable personal life. Past public surveys chose Ahn as South Korea’s most beloved actor and deserving of the nickname “The Nation’s Actor.”
Ahn said he earlier felt confined with his “The Nation's Actor” labeling but eventually thought that led him down the right path. In recent years, local media has given other stars similar honorable nicknames, but Ahn was apparently the first South Korean actor who was dubbed “The Nation's Actor.”
“I felt I should do something that could match that title. But I think that has eventually guided me on a good direction,” Ahn said in an interview with Yonhap news agency in 2023.
In media interviews, Ahn couldn’t choose what his favorite movie was, but said that his role as a dedicated, hardworking manger for a washed-up rock singer played by Park Jung-hoon resembled himself in real life the most.
Ahn was also known for his reluctance to do love scenes. He said said he was too shy to act romantic scenes and sometimes asked directors to skip steamy scenes if they were only meant to add spice to movies.
“I don’t do well on acting like looking at someone who I don’t love with loving eyes and kissing really romantically. I feel shy and can’t express such emotions well,” Ahn said in an interview with the Shindonga magazine in 2007. “Simply, I’m clumsy on that. So I couldn’t star in such movies a lot. But ultimately, that was a right choice for me.”
Ahn is survived by his wife and their two sons. A mourning station at a Seoul hospital was to run until Friday.
FILE - South Korean actor Ahn Sung-ki smiles for a photo on the red carpet at the 56th Daejong Film Awards ceremony in Seoul, South Korea, June 3, 2020. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon, File)
FILE - South Korean actor Ahn Sung-ki attends an event as part of the 11th Pusan International Film Festival in Busan, South Korea, Oct. 13, 2006. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File)
