Busan’s ‘month-long stay’ shark Bukangi draws 1.54 million visitors... Mayor Jeon Jae-su calls it “a great blessing”

[Financial News] The Heuksangeo shark nicknamed “Bukangi,” which appeared in an artificial waterway at North Port Waterfront Park in Dong-gu, Busan, has stayed there for 30 days and become a new tourist attraction in the city. Crowds from across the country have flocked to see the shark swimming leisurely, with visitor numbers soaring past 1.5 million in a month. The North Port area has been reminiscent of a huge festival venue day after day.

According to the Busan Facilities Corporation, the cumulative number of visitors reached 1,538,800 as of 6 p.m. on the 17th, one month after Bukangi first appeared in the North Port Waterfront Park waterway. A total of 42,000 people visited the park on the 17th, a weekend day, while 141,000 flocked there over the two days of the previous weekend, the 10th and 11th. The excitement has hardly waned. Visitor numbers have also remained steady on weekdays, averaging 20,000 to 30,000 a day.
From early that morning, the banks of the artificial waterway and the pedestrian bridge crossing it were crowded with people trying to photograph Bukangi. Whenever a visitor who had managed to take a photo left, another person would quickly take their place. An elementary school student who said they had come from Gwangju with their family said, “Bukangi was so huge that at first I thought it was an orca,” adding, “We set out early in the morning to see the shark and stopped by as the first stop on our trip to Busan.” The Busan city government predicted that, if this trend continues, cumulative visitor numbers could soon top 2 million.

Despite the explosive interest, returning Bukangi to its natural habitat has proved difficult. Authorities have made two attempts, taking into account the safety of both the public and the shark: they fired water cannons to push it toward open waters and set up a large net to guide it out. But both efforts failed as Bukangi deftly avoided the net and slipped through a narrow gap to swim back into the waterway.
As the period of falling water temperatures approaches, the agencies involved are growing increasingly concerned. Kim Hyun-woo, a researcher at the National Institute of Fisheries Science, explained, “The water temperature in the waterway is currently around 22.1°C, which is suitable for the shark to stay in, but it could be dangerous if it falls to 18°C or below.” He added, “Last year, the water temperature dropped to 18°C around November 18.” The Busan city government and the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries therefore plan to find the best way to return Bukangi safely to the sea by the end of this month, before water temperatures begin to fall in earnest.

Mayor of Busan Jeon Jae-su welcomed the unexpected popularity Bukangi has brought while pledging to ensure thorough safety measures. “Even if a world-renowned artist came, drawing 1.5 million people would be close to impossible, but Bukangi managed it,” Jeon said. “By introducing North Port to the world in advance—it will become the heart of Busan, the future maritime capital—Bukangi feels like a truly wonderful blessing to me as mayor of Busan,” he said, expressing his delight.
Jeon went on to stress, “Above all, Bukangi needs to stay healthy, and public safety is also our top priority. We currently deploy 105 government officials a day to monitor the situation, and since there hasn’t been a single safety incident so far, we’ll continue to manage it thoroughly to the end.”

[email protected] Park Ji-hyun Reporter