Land ministry organizes drone displays to ease pandemic fatigue
A woman takes a picture of an image of the Korean Peninsula created by drones at the Olympic Park Peace Square in Songpa, Seoul, Nov. 13. Courtesy of Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport
By Lee Kyung-min
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said Sunday that it held
, Nov. 13, as part of efforts to express gratitude for the months-long cooperation and support in following government mandates to better tackle the COVID-19 pandemic.
The ministry sought to help the public have a moment of rest, peace and hope; values that have come under pressure amid the longer-than-expected pandemic, the ministry added.
The event was held near the Olympic Park Peace Square in Bangi-dong, Songpa-gu, Seoul, at 6 p.m Friday.
Three hundred and fifteen drones flew in coordinated formations to produce a variety of images under the theme of “Korean New Deal” and “Memories and Feelings of Victory.”
The drones created a sequence of images ― related to the 1988 Seoul Olympics, 2002 World Cup, people wearing masks and a person running and leaping ― to help people regain a sense of hope and victory that has dipped due the pandemic.
The Olympic Park, where the 1988 and 2002 events were held, was chosen as the venue to best recall the memories of historic significance.
The display by the Korean-made drones using domestic “drone swarming technology” continued for a little over 10 minutes.
Friday's event comes about four months after a s
held July 2 at Yeouido Han River Park as part of “Thank You Challenge,” a relay of uploads that spread on social networking services (SNS) to express gratitude to medical workers for their dedicated efforts in their fight against the coronavirus.
Inspired by SNS users' shared posts where they gave thanks and expressed appreciation through sign language images, the drone display also produced images of hands signing phrases such as “Thanks to you” and “Go Korea.”
The ministry was sure to give advance notice to the public of the date and venue of Friday's event, a decision made in response to many people being unable to enjoy July's event as it was held with little promotion so as to prevent large gatherings of people in consideration of social distancing guidelines.
The ministry said Friday's display should not be considered merely as an event with entertainment value, but as an indication of the budding industry's growth potential.
The ministry has been seeking to
since 2018 via a regulatory sandbox, through which up to 1 billion won ($890,000) in grants are given to cities that help local drone manufactures facilitate the development of relevant technologies and subsequent commercial use.
The footage of the display is available for replay on the ministry's YouTube channel.