Who Will Toll the Bell to Ring in New Year, Ring Out Old?
By By Kwon Mee-yoo
Staff Reporter
Sixteen people have been selected to toll the bell at Bosingak in central Seoul on Thursday at midnight to ring in the New Year's.
The 16 includes celebrities as well as ordinary citizens.
The bell-tolling ceremony first started in 1953. Since 2005, the participants have been selected by surveys. Except for Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon and four other city officials, citizens choose who they want to ring the bell.
Included in the list are Korea's national football coach, Huh Jung-moo, who will lead the team at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, and Um Hong-gil, the mountaineer who conquered 16 peaks in the Himalayas in the shortest period of time in the world.
Actress Park Eun-hye, who received the Korea Sharing Award 2009, is the only entertainer on the list.
Also on the list are Army Master Sgt. Kim Jong-hyun who has given blood 265 times in 18 years; Lee Jeong-rim, winner of the Seoul Welfare Award 2009 for donating for 13 years to support low-income bracket children and seniors; and Kim Su-ja, who donates some 70 percent of her income despite living in a rented apartment.
Sejong University student Kim Young-seok was chosen in recognition of his participation in the city's study aid program for elementary to high school students.
Marie-Helene Brasseur, or Bae Hyon-jeong, a Belgian-turned-Korean, was picked for having cared for low-income families and terminal cancer patients for some 40 years after she was naturalized.
Another participant is An Seung-gab, who was homeless for 10 years before publishing an essay.
Dorg Tseveen is a married immigrant from Mongolia who came to Korea in 2002. She won a filial piety award for taking care of her ill father-in-law.
Mark Breitenberg, president of the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design, will join the bell tolling to celebrate the World Design Capital 2010 Seoul.
The ringing of the bell originated in the Joseon Kingdom (1392-1910). In the early Joseon period, bells at Seoul's four main entrances and four small entrances were rung in the morning and evening to notify the opening and closing of the gates. The bells sounded 33 times in the morning to start the day and 28 times in the evening to announce the curfew.
The Bosingak Bell will be rung 33 times at midnight Thursday.
Before the bell tolling, congratulatory performances featuring K-pop singers will be held.
Therefore, traffic will be blocked from Gwanghwamun to Jongno from 10 p.m. Thursday to 2 a.m. Friday. Buses will take temporary detours and subway services will be extended until 2 a.m. Friday.