Things went differently following the disaster.
All over the world, people celebrate the New Year with lively celebrations. But for South Korea, things look a little different.
Traditionally, Seoul also puts on an exciting show, with the most influential people of the year (as nominated) playing at Click on it bell 33 times, starting from 00:00 on January 1st of the new year. Spectacles and fireworks are often involved as Korean citizens cheer on site and at home.
For 2025, however, Seoul watched silently, heartbroken, as the bell tolled “in the darkness”.
Seoul is silent. There is no cheering to celebrate the arrival of a new year. It’s solemn. The bosingak bell rings in the darkness, in remembrance, to mourn the victims who lost their lives in the tragic plane crash and to wish their souls to find relief pic.twitter.com/ubm8bDEh2S
— Joseph Kim (@josungkim) December 31, 2024
In accordance with the one-week national mourning period declared by the current interim president Choi Sang Mokfollowing the tragedy Jeju water plane crash that killed 179 people at Muan International Airport, most events have been scaled back, postponed or cancelled.
Starting December 31, 2024 (KST), the Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) announced that the “New Year Bell Ringing Ceremony” will take place “focus on the ringing of the bell itself, while other performances are cancelled.”
And so, the citizens of Seoul – and those of most cities in Korea – welcomed 2025 with heavy hearts, hoping for a better year to come. Those present at the event observed a moment of silence, condolence and remembrance of the victims of the plane crash.
Seoul also announced that a memorial altar for the victims of the plane crash will remain open to the public at Seoul City Hall until January 4, 2025 (KST).
Read more about the Jeju Air crash, Korea’s worst aviation disaster in decades, here:
179 of 181 passengers and crew were confirmed dead in the Jeju plane crash
