"Please Remove Fallen Ginkgo Fruit"... 50,000 Complaints Related to Fallen Leaves in 3 Years

ACRC Issues Advisory on Fallen-Leaf Complaints, Which Peak in November
Shares Measures Including Damage Prevention and Early Harvesting of Ginkgo Fruit

As autumn leaves begin to fall, inconveniences such as obstructed pedestrian routes, clogged drains and foul odors from ginkgo fruit are expected to become more widespread. The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission (ACRC) has issued a public complaint advisory.

Fallen leaves lie on a vehicle near Gwanghwamun Square in Jongno-gu, Seoul. Photo by Cho Yongjun.

The ACRC said on October 27 that it had collected 50,242 complaints related to fallen leaves filed with the pan-government Civil Complaint Information Analysis System over the three-year period from October 2023 through September 2026.

The analysis found that complaints related to fallen leaves were most frequent in November. In particular, 23,186 complaints were filed between September and December, the autumn and winter months covered by the study period, accounting for about 46% of all complaints.

The main types of complaints included requests to remove fallen leaves and ginkgo fruit that causes foul odors; reports of risks to pedestrians from slipping on fallen leaves, clogged drains and business losses; and demands for improvements to the urban environment.

The ACRC recommended that relevant agencies prepare measures and issued an autumn public complaint advisory. Such advisories are issued to alert agencies at various levels when complaints are expected to occur frequently during a particular period.

The ACRC proposed improvements to help relevant agencies strengthen their on-site response during autumn. These include increasing the collection of fallen leaves in areas where they accumulate, preventing damage in advance and minimizing cleaning blind spots.

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