The 31st Polar Bear Swim Festival took place at Haeundae Beach in Busan, Sunday.
Some 4,500 people braved the winter sea like the bears the festival is named after. Of the crowd, 200 were non-Korean participants.
Sunday marked a brief break in the cold spell, with the daytime temperatures rising as high as 7 degrees Celsius, compared to the previous day of minus 8 degrees.
The age range of the participants this year went from 3 years old to 82 years old.
The 31st Polar Bear Swim Festival took place at Haeundae Beach in Busan, Jan. 7 (Yonhap)
Electronic band Luna Pirates and DJ DOC performed for the festival previous to the swimmers’ entering the sea.
The annual Polar Bear Swim Festival has been featured by BBC in 2010 as one of the top 10 unusual winter sports. The city of Busan has held the Haeundae Polar Swim Festival since 1988 to commemorate the 1988 Summer Olympics held in Seoul.
The 31st Polar Bear Swim Festival took place at Haeundae Beach in Busan, Jan. 7 (Yonhap)
The 31st Polar Bear Swim Festival took place at Haeundae Beach in Busan, Jan. 7 (Yonhap)
By Lim Jeong-yeo (kaylalim@heraldcorp.com)
![[Graphic News] More Koreans say they plan long-distance trips this year](http://res.heraldm.com/phpwas/restmb_idxmake.php?idx=645&simg=/content/image/2024/04/17/20240417050828_0.gif&u=)
