At Seoul’s New Year’s Eve celebration, the Bosingak Bell is rung at Bosingak Pavilion.
Bosingak is a historic bell pavilion in Jongno District, central Seoul. The New Year’s Eve ceremony traditionally includes 33 strikes at midnight, performed in a public event attended by officials and spectators. The ringing is a major Korean countdown ritual and is broadcast widely.
The number 33 has historical associations with the bell’s former role in announcing the opening and closing of Seoul’s city gates during the Joseon period. The present bell is not simply the original medieval object: the historic bell was replaced after damage, and the current bell was cast in the twentieth century. Bosingak should not be confused with the Emille Bell, a famous Silla-period bell preserved in Gyeongju.