Updated

Updated · koreajoongangdaily.com · Aug 18

Yeongcheon Dump Truck Crash Kills 3 Sanitation Workers, Seriously Injuring Driver

Updated

Updated · koreajoongangdaily.com · Aug 18

Yeongcheon Dump Truck Crash Kills 3 Sanitation Workers, Seriously Injuring Driver

Q: How are urban park patrols battling the secret summer harvest of cicada nymphs before it's too late?

Urban park patrols are trying to stop the harvest early with visible warnings, tighter on-site monitoring and fines backed by park rules. In Seoul, the city has installed banners at Yeouido Saetgang Ecological Park telling visitors not to collect cicada nymphs or other insects without permission. Officials say patrols will be increased during the summer emergence period, when cicada nymphs climb out of the ground at dusk and are easiest to gather in bulk. If patrol staff catch people collecting them, they will order them to stop and can impose fines of up to 100,000 won under Seoul’s Han River park conservation ordinance. The crackdown is preventive as much as punitive. City officials say repeated complaints last summer described people carrying large containers or barrels and removing cicada nymphs in quantity from the Saetgang area. Although cicadas are not a legally protected species, Seoul argues that large-scale removal can still damage a sensitive ecological park that supports diverse wildlife and children’s nature programs. The broader lesson from Seoul and similar incidents reported in Busan and central Tokyo is that patrols are moving before collections become normalized. By combining posted notices, ranger presence and enforceable penalties, authorities are trying to deter nighttime harvesting before it disrupts breeding cycles, weakens the park’s food web and undermines the ecological function of urban green space.

3 articles · Updated · koreajoongangdaily.com · Aug 18

Three sanitation workers died in Yeongcheon after a dump truck hit a garbage truck at an intersection, with the dump truck driver seriously injured.
The collision involved the garbage truck the workers were on and occurred at a road junction, making the crash itself the immediate cause of the deaths.
The latest report identifies the victims as sanitation workers and frames the incident as a fatal workplace traffic accident in the southeastern city.