'Jeoya's Bell' Event Canceled for 2nd Year... Sunrise Viewing Sites Closed

On the 30th, Seoul Jongno-gu Boshingak displayed a notice related to the 'Jeya's Bell' ringing ceremony at Boshingak, as the Seoul city government announced that, to prevent the spread of COVID-19, this year's 'Jeya's Bell' ringing ceremony at Boshingak would be held online without an on-site event, following last year./Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Seon-ae] Following last year, this year as well, bell-ringing events across the country on the 31st will not be held due to concerns over the spread of COVID-19. Some local governments are downsizing the events by live streaming or broadcasting recorded videos of the bell-ringing events online in a 'non-face-to-face' manner.

The Gyeonggi Cultural Foundation under Gyeonggi Province canceled the New Year's Eve bell-ringing ceremony that was to be held at Imjingak in Paju. The performance event scheduled at Uijeongbu Arts Center was also changed to a no-audience performance. The performance will be pre-recorded and broadcast from 10:30 PM on the 31st through the foundation’s YouTube channel and others.

Suwon City in Gyeonggi Province canceled the New Year's Eve bell-ringing event planned at Yeomin-gak in front of Hwaseong Haenggung. The New Year's Eve concert that was to be held at the Haenggung Plaza will also not take place.

Incheon and Daejeon cities also fully canceled the bell-ringing events for the second consecutive year.

Gangwon Province decided not to hold the New Year's bell-ringing ceremony to prevent the local spread of COVID-19, but plans to reduce the number of attendees to only executive staff to pay respects at the Chungnyeol Tower on January 3. Gangneung City canceled all other events except the year-end ceremony and the New Year's visit to Gyeongpodae Memorial Tower.

Gyeongju City will hold the Silla Great Bell ringing ceremony with a minimal number of attendees and broadcast a recorded video. The video will be aired on local broadcasters on the morning of January 1 next year.

Jeonju City in Jeollabuk-do canceled the New Year's Eve bell-ringing event that was to be held at Pungnammun Gate. Gwangju City also decided not to hold the New Year's Eve bell-ringing ceremony to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The New Year's bell-ringing event at Yudalsan in Mokpo will not be held for the second consecutive year.

Gyeongsangnam-do canceled bell-ringing events hosted by each city and county and closed major sunrise viewing spots.

In addition, bell-ringing events were canceled in most regions nationwide, including Yeongdeok and Uljin in Gyeongbuk Province.

Some local governments are holding bell-ringing events with limited attendees and live streaming them online.

Seoul City will broadcast the 'New Year's Eve Bell' ringing ceremony held at Bosingak via YouTube and Facebook. It will also be simultaneously aired on tbs Traffic Broadcasting and terrestrial and cable TV channels. Ten citizen representatives, including archery national representative An San and actor Oh Young-soo from the drama 'Squid Game,' along with Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon and a total of 14 people will attend.

The Seoul Digital Foundation will hold the '2022 Metaverse Seoul New Year's Eve Bell Festival' event on the metaverse platform 'ifland.'

Busan City will hold the Citizen's Bell ringing event at Yongdusan Park with only the bell ringers attending and live stream it online. The bell ringers consist of 16 people, including the first developer of the COVID-19 specimen walk-through, small business owners, youth, representatives of civic groups, and the executive chairman of the 2030 Busan World Expo Citizen Promotion Committee. The countdown and bell-ringing scenes will be broadcast on YouTube channels 'Bussan News' and 'Bada TV.'

Daegu City will hold the bell-ringing ceremony at the Dalgubeol Great Bell in the National Debt Repayment Movement Memorial Park and stream it live on YouTube and other platforms. Only 33 bell ringers, including Daegu Mayor Kwon Young-jin, and related personnel will attend.

Ulsan City will conduct the year-end New Year's Eve event at the bell pavilion in Ulsan Grand Park in a non-face-to-face manner and broadcast it through the local private broadcaster UBC Ulsan Broadcasting and YouTube.

Yeosu City in Jeollanam-do will broadcast the Yeosu Hyangilam Sunrise Festival on YouTube and also present the bell-ringing event online. To facilitate this, Yeosu will restrict vehicle traffic toward Hyangilam from midnight on the 31st until 8 AM on January 1 next year.

Jeondeungsa Temple on Ganghwa Island, boasting a 1600-year tradition, will also present the bell-ringing ceremony on YouTube without outside attendees. An official from Gangwon Province’s event said, "Please refrain from gatherings and travel, quietly welcome the New Year, and strive to restart daily life recovery."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.