BUSAN — Crowds gathered from early morning on the 17th at the waterfront park in Busan's North Port to catch a glimpse of "Bukangi," a black shark that has taken up residence in the park's artificial waterway.
The 17th marked the 30th day since Bukangi first appeared in the waterway, making it roughly a month-long stay in the port city.
Visitors lined the railings along the waterway and the footbridge above it, cameras in hand. They tracked the shark with their eyes as it glided through the water, intent on capturing the moment. As soon as one person finished taking photos and stepped away, another moved into the spot, keeping the line of onlookers unbroken.
Moon Ha-jun, a fifth-grader at an elementary school in Jeonnam-Gwangju Metropolitan City, said the shark was so large that he mistook it for a killer whale at first.
"We left home with my family at 8 a.m. today to see the shark, and this was the first stop on our Busan trip," he said. "Seeing it in person was really amazing."
According to the Busan Metropolitan Government, the waterfront park drew 20,000 visitors on the 16th as of 6 p.m. that day, bringing the cumulative total to 1.48 million. The figure is expected to surpass 1.5 million over the weekend.