Seoul to ring in New Year with a bell, music and giant shining orb

A gigantic shining orb will illuminate downtown Seoul as the clock ticks down to midnight on New Year’s Eve.

A glowing orb rises from the center of Sejong-daero, downtown Seoul, in a rendered image shared by the Seoul city government Tuesday. [SEOUL METROPOLITAN GOVERNMENT]

A gigantic shining orb will illuminate downtown Seoul as the clock ticks down to midnight on New Year’s Eve.

According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government on Tuesday, a countdown event hosted by the city government will commence at 11 p.m. on Sunday and conclude at 1 a.m. on Monday along the road from Bosingak Pavilion to Sejong-daero in Jongno District, central Seoul. Various performances, including street parades and K-pop stages, will be featured along the 400-meter (1,312-feet) road.

This marks the first event since the Covid-19 pandemic that Seoulites will welcome a new year without wearing masks, the city government said.

Before the bell tolls at midnight, performances and parades featuring Korean traditional music, such as gugak, will entertain the audience for about 40 minutes.

Representatives of the city, including FC Midtjyllandand and Korean national team striker Cho Gue-sung, far left, and Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, front right, ring the bell at midnight on New Year's Eve to herald the start of the new year on Jan. 1, 2023. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

The capital is also expected to transform the annual New Year's Eve bell-tolling ceremony at Bosingak Pavilion in the city's Jongno District into a foreigner-friendly event.

The city has invited 18 people, including 12 residents recognized for their extraordinary achievements this year and six international influencers participating in the 2023 SeoulCon, to ring the bell at Bosaingak Pavilion. The Seoul Business Agency invited around 3,000 global influencers to this year’s SeoulCon, a fashion and lifestyle fair scheduled for Dec. 30 through Jan. 1.

The invited civic bell-ringers include 18-year-old Yoon Do-il, who helped the victims of the random knife attack that occurred at Seohyeon Station in Gyeonggi in August. Andres Albiol from Argentina, the first foreigner to work as a train conductor in Korea, and 82-year-old Kim Jeong-ja, the oldest taker of the College Scholastic Aptitude Test this year, were among the twelve invitees.

The participating influencers include Kika Kim, an influencer from Kazakhstan with over 8 million followers on Instagram, Jang Elina, a naturalized Korean citizen from Uzbekistan with more than 13 million followers on TikTok, and four others from India, Vietnam, the United States and the Philippines.

Visitors watch the lanterns lit up along Cheonggye Stream in downtown Seoul on Dec. 13. The lantern festival will be held as part of the capital's winter festival dubbed Seoul Winter Festa 2023 through Jan.21. [NEWS1]

According to the city government, the “sun of the midnight,” a 12-meter-wide sun-shaped structure, will rise above Sejong-daero in Jongno District as the bell tolls. The ceremony will be followed by K-pop performances featuring bands such as Enhypen, ZeroBaseOne and The Boyz.

The performances, open to all residents on-site, will also be broadcast on MBC’s end-of-the-year music program “2023 Gayo Daejejeon.”

To ensure the New Year’s event concludes safely, the city government and Jongno District Office will deploy approximately 1,100 security personnel, nearly double the number compared to the previous year.

"We promise to make every effort to ensure the safety and convenience of everyone attending the event so that they can enjoy it safely and happily," said Choi Kyung-ju, director-general of the city government’s culture headquarters.

The two-hour event will be livestreamed at Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) in eastern Seoul, Sejongdaero, and also through the city government’s live channel, Live Seoul.

BY CHO JUNG-WOO, LEE SOO-JUNG [cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr]