{"id":787440,"date":"2026-09-30T12:56:07","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T12:56:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/787440\/"},"modified":"2026-09-30T12:56:07","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T12:56:07","slug":"south-korea-lost-shark-draws-over-half-a-million-visitors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/787440\/","title":{"rendered":"South Korea: Lost shark draws over half a million visitors"},"content":{"rendered":"

A shark stranded in a canal in the northern port city of Busan has become South Korea<\/a>‘s latest celebrity, tourist magnet and ambassador, as authorities’ attempts to guide it back out to sea have so far faltered.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What do we know about the stranded shark?<\/p>\n

The shark was first spotted in a narrow waterway in Busan’s North Port on September 18.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Reports on its possible species vary but seem to suggest it’s a type of requiem shark, possibly a bull shark or a bronze whaler.<\/p>\n

It’s a fairly large shark, appearing to be roughly 3.5 meters (around 11 feet, 6 inches)\u00a0long.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It’s been nicknamed “Bukangi,” derived from the Korean name for the North Port in Busan, Buk Hang.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"MembersAttempts to encourage the animal back out to sea earlier this week failedImage: Son Hyung-joo\/Yonhap\/AP Photo\/picture alliance<\/p>\n

Trapped aquatic tourist trap<\/p>\n

Busan city authorities say roughly 600,000 people have flocked to see the creature over the past two weeks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

During the four-day Chuseok bank holiday weekend, Busan city authorities said that almost half a million people visited the waterfront park where the shark was stranded, compared to an average of around 2,000 visitors on weekends.\u00a0<\/p>\n

City Mayor Chun Jae-soo thanked the involuntary visitor for publicity that would otherwise have cost “trillions.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Local media reported a spike in sales of shark-shaped ice creams at nearby stores.<\/p>\n

The city named the lost predator an honorary ambassador after 91% of participants in a social media poll approved of the notion.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Shares in the Pinkfong Company, the studio behind the viral “Baby Shark” song, also rose by around 7% at one point amid the hype.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The excitement has also led to false rumors of a second sighting, or even of it being the shark’s own spawn, with AI-generated dross inevitably following.<\/p>\n

\"PeopleVisitors flocked to the park in the North Port over the long bank holiday weekend to see the stranded sea creatureImage: Son Hyung-joo\/Yonhap\/AP Photo\/picture alliance<\/p>\n

How are authorities trying to guide it back out to sea?\u00a0<\/p>\n

A rescue operation earlier this week failed.<\/p>\n

The Coast Guard and other agencies\u00a0deployed vessels that sprayed jets of water behind the shark, trying to encourage it to swim back towards the ocean.<\/p>\n

Instead the shark simply evaded the streams without heading in the desired direction.\u00a0<\/p>\n

South Korea’s Chosun Daily\u00a0newspaper reported that a fresh attempt, this time seeking to use a net to guide the shark out, was being planned for Friday.<\/p>\n

The shark is the latest unlikely animal celebrity craze to grip South Korea, not least following the excitement in April over Neukgu, a young wolf that escaped from a zoo. It spent nine days at large before being recaptured.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The incident is also somewhat reminiscent of the German frenzy this year over a beached humpback whale<\/a>, who was in turn given the\u00a0place-based nickname of “Timmy” \u2014 after the Timmendorfer Strand beach on the Baltic coast,\u00a0the site of its first stranding.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Edited by: Elizabeth Schumacher<\/p>\n

If you rely on our team for trusted reporting, please take a moment to select us as your Preferred Source on Google<\/a>, so you’ll always see our verified news first.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A shark stranded in a canal in the northern port city of Busan has become South Korea‘s latest…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":787441,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[90,56,54,55,4407],"class_list":["post-787440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=787440"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787440\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/787441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=787440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=787440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=787440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}