The number of visitors to the shark ‘Bukangi’ in the artificial waterway in Busan’s North Port exceeds 1 million.

(Busan = Yonhap News) Reporter Soo-hee Oh = Since its first sighting on the 18th of last month, the cumulative number of visitors to see the shark 'Bukangi', which has been staying in the artificial waterway of Busan Port's North Port Waterfront Park for over two weeks, has exceeded 1 million.

According to Busan City on the 5th, people flocked to Waterside Park to see Bukangi from 7 a.m. that day.

According to the Busan City tally, the cumulative number of visitors to the North Port Waterfront Park as of 6 p.m. on this day was 1,015,800.

On the 3rd, the first day of the National Foundation Day holiday, 72,000 people visited the Bukhang Waterfront Park to see Bukangi, and on the 4th, 89,000 people visited the Bukhang Waterfront Park on the 5th, the last day of the holiday.

The number of visitors to Bukhang Waterfront Park, which averaged only 2,000 a day before Bukangi's arrival, exceeded 100,000 on the 24th of last month, the first day of the Chuseok holiday, and peaked at 140,000 on the 26th of last month.

Even this morning, the trails and pedestrian bridges around the waterway where you can see Bukangi in person were so crowded with visitors that double or triple horizontal lines formed toward the waterway.

As the water level rose due to the high tide on the 3rd, citizens flocked to see the Bukangi that had returned to the inside of the waterway after crossing the net that had been installed to guide it to the open sea.

About 100 employees from related organizations, including the Busan Facilities Corporation, the police, Busan City, police, and Dong-gu Office, carried out visitor safety management activities.

Citizens were busy exclaiming in exclamation or following Bukangi swimming inside the artificial water, showing off its splendid appearance, and taking pictures with their smartphones.

Mr. Seo (46), who lives in Yangsan, Gyeongsangnam-do, said, "My child asked me to come see Bukangi on the last day of the holiday, and I was surprised that it was different from what I saw on TV or on the Internet."

Bukangi continues to stay in the waterway despite two attempts by rescue authorities to send it out to the open sea.

Rescue authorities decided to wait for Bukangi to get out of the waterway on his own without any rescue work for the time being.

The net installed after the second rescue operation was dismantled at around 4:20 pm on the 3rd to secure a passage for the bukangi to move toward the outer sea.

The National Institute of Science and Fisheries and others believe that Bukangi is not feeding and are continuously monitoring its health and movement status.