Busan Fireworks Festival to light up Gwangalli Beach Saturday
Colorful fireworks light up the night sky over Gwangalli Beach and Gwangan Bridge in Busan during the annual Busan Fireworks Festival in this file photo. Yonhap
Korea’s southern port city of Busan will host its massive annual fireworks display Saturday along Gwangalli Beach, illuminating the landmark Gwangan Bridge across the bay, city officials said Monday.
The hourlong show starts at 7 p.m. Fireworks will be launched from three spots, Gwangalli Beach, Igidae Park and Dongbaek Island, to give the show more depth.
The program will open with a 15-minute show by China’s Sunny Fireworks. It will be followed by a 30-minute show by Korea’s Hanwha Corp. on the theme “Busan’s dream,” featuring 25-inch shells, waterfall-style “Niagara” fireworks and multimedia lighting on the bridge. A five-minute “curtain call” display will then offer thanks citizens and festival staff.
Before the fireworks show, the Black Eagles, the Korean Air Force’s aerobatic team, will put on an air show at 4 p.m., alongside beach events and busking by local indie bands.
The city will offer some 17,000 paid seats. About 3,000 more seats than last year have been added, all set aside for foreign tourists and sold through overseas travel agencies and online travel platforms. Busan residents get a 10 percent discount on premium seats for the first time.
To manage the expected crowds, the city will deploy about 7,000 safety personnel and designate 42 priority zones that will be watched in real time on CCTV. Eight emergency medical booths and 32 ambulances will be on standby. Visitors can check crowd levels through Kakao Map, one of Korea’s most widely used map apps.
Lanes on Gwangan Bridge will be partly closed from Monday night for setup. The bridge will be fully closed on festival day, the upper deck from 3:30 p.m. and the lower deck from 6:30 p.m. to midnight. Subway and bus service will be increased.
“We will work closely with related agencies to ensure that residents and tourists from home and abroad can enjoy the festival safely,” Busan Mayor Chun Jae-soo said.
This article was published with the assistance of generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.