Chuseok Holiday, South Korean Government Warns Residents To Beware Of Tawon's Stirs And Snake Bites

Passenger queues at Seoul Train Station, South Korea for the Chuseok holiday. (Wikimedia Commons/Park4223)

JAKARTA - The South Korean government issued a warning about the risk of wasp stings and snake bites, as many people are expected to visit their ancestral graves as part of a tradition known as "seongmyo" before and during the Chuseok holiday, which is scheduled to start last Saturday.

According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) on Wednesday, more than 71 percent of all cases of wasp and bee stings reported over the past five years have occurred between July and September.

"Wap wasp shocks, snake bites, and injuries from cutting grass often occurred in September during the Chuseok holiday. However, the risk remains higher (compared to other months of the year) until mid-October. So, everyone must take precautions to prevent such incidents from happening when doing outdoor activities until then," KDCA Commissioner Jee Young-mee said in a statement, according to The Korea Times September 11.

According to KDCA data, of the more than 4,500 incidents between 2019 and 2023, 111 of them were serious, with 15 resulting in deaths.

During the same period, 808 cases of snake bites were reported, with 62 percent of those affected requiring hospitalization.

The health agency said the risk was higher for people planning to do seongmyo, which was when family members removed the weeds that grew around their ancestral graves.

KDCA also advises the public to be careful when using a grass cutting machine for the work. Over a five-year period, nearly 1,300 people were reportedly injured while cutting grass.

Most of them (66 percent) said their heads and faces were injured by rocks, machine shards themselves, or other objects.

To minimize the risk of being stung by wasps or bees, KDCA recommends not wearing perfume or other scented cosmetic products when visiting a grassy area. If attacked, the person must release the shock using a credit card or other means and put the ice compress on the wound, the body added.

While the best way to avoid snake bites is to let the animal itself, because snakes are generally shy and tend not to attack unless provoked.

If bitten by a venomous snake, which is often characterized by two clear stab marks among other signs, the person should immediately seek emergency help and move as little as possible, as it moves to cause the poison to circulate through the body, KDCA said.

It is known, Chuseok is the main harvest festival and three-day national holiday in South Korea. It is celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th month of the Lunar Calendar which this year falls on September 17, and the national holiday on September 16-18.