City to toll bell for New Year

Seoul City will mark the New Year with a bell-tolling ceremony in the center of the capital as part of its annual event, officials said.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government said Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon is set to ring the bell at Bosingak Pavilion on Thursday night a total of 33 times with 11 citizens chosen as representatives for the year 2015.
The guests include a doctor who reopened his clinic after successfully containing the Middle East respiratory syndrome and a firefighter who saved 11 lives through CPR.
As the event will be held until 1:30 a.m., traffic around Jongno will be restricted, officials said.
For public convenience, the operation of buses and subways will be extended until 2 a.m. Buses to and from Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, however, will stop at midnight, they added.
About 330 police officers will be dispatched around Jongno to control traffic and crack down on the use of firecrackers. Firecracker accidents have annually been reported during the year-end event, police said.
Real-time traffic information is available at www.spatic.go.kr.
(rene@heraldcorp.com)