Trapped Busan shark draws 600,000 visitors, named ambassador

A shark trapped in an artificial waterway at Busan’s North Port has drawn about 600,000 visitors over roughly two weeks, and the city has named the animal an honorary public-relations ambassador after a public poll. Authorities’ latest effort to guide it back to open water failed, leaving its condition and eventual fate uncertain. The shark, nicknamed Bukangi after the Korean name for North Port, was first spotted on September 18. Busan said about 91 percent of roughly 8,000 participants in a poll on the city’s official Instagram account supported the honorary title. The city announced the appointment on September 29. Visitor counts vary by period and measure. Busan has reported about 600,000 people coming to see the shark over approximately two weeks. One city count put attendance at North Port Waterfront Park at 607,000 from September 19 to 28; another report cited more than 560,000 cumulative visitors since September 19. About 480,000 people visited during the four-day Chuseok holiday, according to city figures cited in reports. On Tuesday, September 29, coast guard and rescue crews tried to steer the shark toward the waterway’s exit by spraying jets of water behind it.