"This Guy Must Be Caught for Humanity to Survive"... The Story of the Inventor of the 'Malbeol Repellent Can'

YouTuber 'Lee Gong' Lee Sin-seok Obtains Patent for 'Kkangtong Hornet Trap'

Leading Efforts to Save Disappearing Plant Pollinator Honeybees

These days, he is engrossed in a business that exterminates wasps. Instead of exorcising ghosts with ‘toema (退魔)’, he humorously calls himself a ‘toemasa (退馬師)’ who annihilates wasps, jokingly referring to himself as a ‘bongsa (蜂死)’ activist.

Lee Sin-seok (in his 60s), a beekeeper in Deoksan-ri, Daedong-myeon, Gimhae-si, Gyeongnam, has a clear logic. He said, “The future of humanity depends on bees.” This is a common narrative in news and documentaries about the threat of ‘bee extinction’ endangering human survival.

If bees disappear, pollination?the transfer of pollen to the stigma of flowers?will not occur, breaking the food ecosystem chain supported by plants. This heavy proposition states that the extinction of bees and the end of humanity will happen together.

Pollination of seed plants is carried out by insects, wind, birds, and human hands, among which bees play a major role. Although this is not something people usually think about deeply, it is a reminder of how precious bees are to humanity.

However, the formidable bees (honeybees) are attacked and killed by another type of bee?the wasp, which is several times larger than honeybees.

Mr. Lee Sin-seok is explaining the invention of the 'Kkangtong Malbeol Capture Device'.

Mr. Lee holds a patent for a method of capturing these wasps. He filed a patent around May last year for a device called the ‘Can Wasp Trap,’ which was officially registered this May. He holds seven patents related to beekeeping.

When I visited his apiary and factory on the 31st of last month, he joked that he had called 119 (emergency services) the day before after being stung by a giant hornet, saying, “I almost died.” It was the second time he had been hospitalized since starting beekeeping. The wasp extermination technician experienced a life-threatening paralysis after being attacked by the top predator among bees.

He invented the ‘Honey Jar,’ a can placed on top of the honeycomb to lure wasps, capturing them by exploiting their habit of climbing upward. Smaller honeybees escape through the metal mesh, but wasps are trapped alive inside the honey jar and used as ingredients for infused liquors and other purposes.

Previously, trapped wasps were burned with fire, which made the device messy and less durable. If one wanted to make infused liquor from the wasps, additional labor was required. Another method involved applying a lethal poison to the hind legs of captured wasps and releasing them to spread the poison within the wasp colony.

Mr. Lee’s upgraded patented version adds another honeycomb where poison is placed, allowing captured wasps to coat themselves with the poison. Without burning the trapped wasps, opening the lid lets them return home and infect other wasps in the nest with the poison.

“Even though they are bees, wasps are of no help to humanity at all.” He joked, asking for a ‘Wasp Extermination Award’ for himself, who has contributed to wasp control research.

Since honeybees must accompany humanity into the future, inventors who exterminate predatory wasps deserve recognition. Farmers cultivating seed plants like strawberries, peppers, and tomatoes face ruin without honeybees during the critical pollination period that determines the year’s harvest.

The number of bees responsible for pollination in greenhouses or open fields determines the success or failure of crops. Wasp extermination greatly affects not only honey production but also crop yields.

The wasps caught in one day using the trap invented by Mr. Lee Sin-seok, the inventor of the wasp exterminator.

Having completed patent registration about three months ago, Mr. Lee is now enjoying a ‘pleasant’ success. His invention has gained attention through word of mouth in the beekeeping industry and on YouTube, leading to a flood of orders for his can wasp traps.

He proudly said that existing traps, mostly made in China, are much more expensive and functionally limited compared to his product, making them incomparable in competitiveness. Since last spring, he has been producing and distributing his traps one by one, reaching about 1,000 units, and from September, he launched a special trap combining his patents.

His YouTube nickname is ‘Lee Gong.’ He uploads a series of videos about the can wasp trap, garnering over 40,000 views, making him a ‘hot’ figure in the beekeeping community. He also runs the ‘Beeland Honey Love’ band and occasionally lectures at beekeeping agricultural organizations and associations.

Having spent his childhood in Jangheung and Yeongam, Jeonnam, and graduated from a vocational training school in Seoul, he moved to Busan because he liked it and has since alternated between jobs and businesses. He currently lives and works in Daedong near Busan.

In 2010, when his wife and son suffered severe enteritis, it sparked the idea for his invention. His wife, having heard that “honey is good,” bought two beehives without hesitation. The beekeeping task became his responsibility.

He started without knowing what a socho (honeybee frame) or sobi (honeybee house) was. Through learning and researching beekeeping, he became dedicated to the challenge of wasp extermination in the beekeeping world.

About ten years ago, he bitterly experienced breaking two ribs while fighting wasps. He rolled while fleeing from attacking wasps, but now the wasps have to avoid him.

“Since farming and honey are related, every country in the world engages in beekeeping,” he said. “I plan to become a ‘Ghostbusters’ protecting honeybees and humanity by spreading wasp extermination inventions worldwide,” he shared his sweet(?) dream.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.