Children's Day celebrated almost normally

For the first time in three years, kids were able to celebrate Children's Day without masks and social distancing restrictions.

Everland amusement park in Yongin, Gyeonggi, is crowded with visitors as the country marks Children's Day, a public holiday, on Thursday. [YONHAP]

For the first time in three years, kids were able to celebrate Children’s Day without masks and social distancing restrictions.

The last two Children’s Days were very different because of the pandemic. Events were canceled or held online, and social distancing kept people apart. On Thursday, things felt a lot more normal.

Children's Grand Park in Gwangjin District, eastern Seoul, bustled with families from Thursday morning enjoying the summer-like weather of around 25 degrees Celsius(77 degrees Fahrenheit).

Children burst into laughter while running around blowing bubbles on the lawn or holding colorful balloons.

Dressed in a red checkered dress, five-year-old Jeong Jae-yi slid down on a slide and ran into her dad’s arms, smiling brightly without a mask.

“It’s exciting to come out for Children’s Day with my child,” said Jeong Jin-hwan, her father. "It's more comfortable and nice for my child to be able to take off the mask outside."

Theme park Lotte World Adventure in Songpa District, southern Seoul, also had dozens of children and parents lining up from early in the morning.

For their first outing in a while, children spotted in the amusement park were snazzed up with rabbit headbands and sparkling shoes. Some chattered or sang children’s songs while waiting to enter.

“It's my first time coming here since the Covid-19 pandemic,” said Pyo Seok-jin, 58 years old, who visited the amusement park with his four-year-old granddaughter Kim Yi-sol.

“Thanks to my granddaughter, I feel like I'm going back to my childhood on Children's Day,” Pyo said. “I hope my granddaughter grows up well and healthy.”

At the Seoul Botanical Garden in Gangseo District, western Seoul, families were busy taking pictures in front of flowers in full bloom.

A forty-nine-year-old parent surnamed Kim, who visited the botanical park on Thursday with a 10-year-old son, said, “We’ve stayed home on every Children's Day for the past two years because of the severe coronavirus situation.

"The weather is nice for a change, and it feels great to spend time outdoors with children without any [worries].”

In commemoration of the 100th anniversary of Children's Day, Korean palaces and royal tombs including Gyeongbok Palace opened for free for children and up to two guardians. The much-awaited Legoland Korea Resort — the first global theme park in Korea — also made its official opening on Thursday.

Thursday’s Children’s Day was the first holiday with major Covid-19 pandemic restrictions no longer in place. Social distancing rules were gone from April 18. On May 2, the government ditched the outdoor mask mandate.

This year's Children’s Day fell on a Thursday, and for some people it meant a long weekend. Health authorities were concerned about increased travel that could be seen at the end of this week.

“We expect there will be travel and gatherings as we are ahead of holidays including Children's Day,” Son Young-rae, senior epidemiological strategist at the Central Disaster Management Headquarters, said in a press briefing held the previous day.

“It's important for each individual to practice virus protocols on their own,” Son said, urging people to wash hands regularly and wear facemasks in some environments.

Despite any risks from travel by the public, the government was confident that the decline in Covid-19 cases will continue.

“Three weeks have passed the distancing measures were lifted, but the virus wave is on a steady decline,” explained Son. “Even if the amount of travel increases, we expect the decline to be maintained as a significant number of the population currently have immunity from vaccination or from Covid-19 infection.”

Korea reported 42,296 new Covid-19 infections on Thursday, down by 15,168, or 26.3 percent, from the previous week.

Meanwhile, the Seoul Metropolitan Government announced Thursday it will resume late-night operation hours for subways and city buses from midnight to 1 a.m., which had been shortened during the pandemic.

The daily operation hours of subways Line 2 and Line 5 to 9, the Ui LRT, and the Sillim Line are planned to be extended to 1 a.m. within next month, while those for Line 1, 3, 4 are scheduled to be pushed back from July.

Seoul’s city buses passing through 11 major hub areas in the capital, including Gangnam, Hongdae, Myeongdong and Yeouido, will extend their last operation time to 1 a.m. starting Monday.

BY SEO JI-EUN [seo.jieun1@joongang.co.kr]