“Our country has four seasons, and that is what makes Korea special.” This is one of the first facts a Korean child learns about their own country. Over the last few years though, I had grown a little suspicious. This so called “spring” lasted a few weeks at most, and this “autumn” seemed either too cold or too hot. Something wasn’t right.
I decided to do a little investigating. Surely, there were many more seasons than the four described in an almost robotic fashion. Korean adults were concealing something, something BIG, and I intended to find out what it was. After hiding in alleys, digging in trash cans, and listening in on private conversations, I found out about the secret, unspoken “Seasons of Korea.”
This is Julio reporting, live from Seoul.
Noisy Bug Season
This season comes hidden deep in the hot summer. Swarms of cicadas pop out of the ground, cling on to dear life on trees, and make normal conversations in the streets only possible if you time it right.