Shark in Busan Canal Draws 470,000 Visitors Over Chuseok

According to the Busan Infrastructure Corporation on the 27th, cumulative visitors to the waterfront park reached 91,000 for the day as of 6 p.m. On the 24th, the first day of the holiday, 101,000 people visited, and on Chuseok itself on the 25th, 136,000 came, bringing the four-day total to 468,000. Cumulative visitors from the 19th, when the corporation began counting, through the 27th reached 553,800.

Even with 17.3 millimeters of rain falling on Busan on the 26th, the "Bukangi craze" did not cool. Crowds gathered along the waterway from morning to catch a glimpse of the shark, and visitors leaning on the railings cheered or clapped whenever Bukangi surfaced. Tourists and holiday travelers pulling suitcases were also seen at the park.

Bukangi first appeared at Bukhang Waterfront Park on the 18th and has remained in the artificial waterway for 10 days. The shark measures more than 3 meters long and is believed to be a sandbar shark or a bull shark. Residents gave it the nickname "Bukangi," meaning "the shark found at Bukhang," and as news spread through the media and social media, onlookers arrived from across the country as well as from Busan.

The Busan Coast Guard deployed patrol boats several times to guide Bukangi out of the waterway and into open sea, but the shark has stayed put. If it does not leave after the holiday, the Busan Metropolitan Government and the National Institute of Fisheries Science plan to assess the shark's condition and discuss rescue options.

Opinions are divided over what to do with Bukangi. Some say there is no need to force it out if it is staying on its own because the waterway suits it, while others argue that a wild shark should be returned to the sea where it originally lived.