BUSAN — A shark nicknamed "Bukangi" that has drawn about 600,000 visitors to a scenic waterway at Busan's North Port is being named an honorary promotional ambassador for the city. Busan says it wants to turn the attention that began with a name residents gave the animal into promotional content and build it into a new story representing the city.
The city said on the 29th that it would formally appoint Bukangi, the shark found at North Port, as an honorary promotional ambassador after taking public opinion into account. The name took hold as residents began affectionately calling the shark Bukangi, and it spread quickly on social media.
The scale of interest has been considerable. From the 19th of this month, when visitor counts began, through 6 p.m. on the 28th, about 600,000 residents and tourists visited the North Port site. Some 480,000 came during the Chuseok holiday alone. About 8,200 people took part in an opinion survey on the ambassador appointment conducted through the city's official Instagram account, and 91% were in favor. Related content drew more than 1.05 million views.
At the appointment ceremony, Busan Mayor Jeon Jae-soo will present the certificate to Bukangi, and the city's communication character "Boogi" will accept it on the shark's behalf. Because the actual shark cannot attend, Boogi will receive it as a proxy. The city plans to produce content linking Boogi and Bukangi and use it to promote Busan's image as a maritime city.
The city will also share the process of returning Bukangi to the sea. Rather than capturing the shark or physically prodding it, Busan said it would use water pumps to encourage the animal to move on its own, and would stream the process live on its official Instagram and YouTube accounts. The plan is to let residents watch Bukangi head back out to sea without having to visit the site.
Busan said it would use the appointment as a starting point to develop the Bukangi story, which grew out of residents' spontaneous interest, into new promotional content for the city. Through social media content, including collaborations with the existing character Boogi, the city aims to convey Busan's maritime image to residents and tourists in a familiar way.
"Bukangi has become a new story for Busan amid the interest and affection of our residents," Mayor Jeon said. "Since we are appointing the shark as an honorary promotional ambassador in line with residents' wishes, we will continue promoting city government in a friendly way that we build together with our residents."
