In South Korea, they call them jagyeongdan, a word whose meaning sits somewhere between vigilante group and neighbourhood watch.
asserted
meaning → call → group
Each night they put on hi-vis vests, picked up their selfie sticks and gathered around the harbour in Busan to keep watch over an unlikely charge: a stranded shark affectionately known as Bukang-i.
On Wednesday, after more than a month in the canal and at the third attempt, the shark was successfully guided out, South Korea’s oceans ministry said.
asserted
ministry → put → attempt
Officials expect her to move into open water in time.
asserted
her → expect → time
For the month that she was stranded, the group of self-appointed guardians took turns to protect her, patrolling the waterfront at night for visitors who might disturb the animal.
uncertain
who → strand → animal
Most are YouTubers who livestreamed the waterway, where the shark became a national celebrity.
asserted
shark → livestreame → waterway
They stayed up through the night, calling out anyone shining torches or lasers into the water.
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They → stay → water
Some of their videos have been watched hundreds of thousands of times.
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Some → watch → times
“They bring fishing lamps, or the kind of lights people use at a campsite,” said Choi Won-jin, one of the shark’s protectors.
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jin → bring → protectors
He would arrive as the lights went out along the canal and wait for the offenders Koreans online call “lantern villains”.
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Koreans → arrive → offenders
The shark had been marooned in the canal since 18 September.
asserted
shark → maroon → September
Named after Bukhang, the Korean name for the city’s North Port, and about 3 metres long, the female dusky shark was one of a species classed as endangered worldwide.
asserted
shark → name → species
More than 1.6 million visitors came to see her, the city said, at a park that used to draw about 2,000 people on a busy Saturday.
asserted
that → come → Saturday
Authorities had twice tried to guide her back out to sea and failed.
asserted
Authorities → try → sea
Until she left, the shark remained in the canal, drawing crowds by day and leaving a handful of men to keep watch after dark.
asserted
shark → leave → dark
They patrolled the canal’s park to check everything was in order, ate snacks as the night went by, and shared their grievances on air about the behaviour they witnessed.
asserted
they → patrol → behaviour
“We’re ordinary members of the public,” said Choi, who has had a YouTube channel for 10 years and covers trending issues in South Korea.
asserted
who → ’re → Korea
“So we have no choice but to put it nicely, and get them to understand as best we can.”
asserted
we → have → it
“Don’t, please don’t switch the torch on,” said one of them, a YouTuber who lived nearby and went by the name Na Tae-soo.
asserted
who → switch → name
Most people complied, he said.
asserted
he → comply → ?
“The animal thrashes about at night because of the torches, and it’s dangerous.”
asserted
it → thrash → torches
His footage captured the shark twisting sharply away from a beam of light at 2am and striking the side of the canal.
asserted
shark → capture → canal
The national institute of fisheries science later confirmed an abrasion on her snout and said a visitor’s torch was likely to have startled the shark into injury.
asserted
torch → confirm → injury
Korean media reported that 105 officials from seven agencies watched over her, with a team on standby to reach the water within three minutes.
asserted
team → report → minutes
Choi disputed this, saying that after dark it was almost up to him and the others.
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it → dispute → him
The waterfront was closed to the public from midnight until 5am, a restriction the YouTubers said was impossible to enforce across a park that size.
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YouTubers → close → park
One night, livestreaming from the walkway, Choi filmed a man tipping food waste into the water.
asserted
man → livestreame → water
Nobody saw the shark feed, though experts said feeding could happen in an instant and sharks her size did not need to eat often.
Further attempts to free the shark had been paused on the grounds that more force would distress her.
uncertain
force → see → her
Cooler water had been expected to prompt her to move on.
asserted
water → expect → her
Dusky sharks prefer water between 18C and 26C, the fisheries institute said.
asserted
institute → prefer → 18C
Experts put 15C as the point below which her physiological functions would start to decline, and about 11C as the point at which survival would become precarious.
asserted
survival → put → which
Busan city officials had expected the canal to reach that temperature after the middle of November.
asserted
canal → expect → November
The fisheries institute recorded 46 large sharks off the east coast in the first half of this year, nearly four times as many as a year earlier, which it attributed to warmer seas and more of the fish that sharks feed on.
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sharks → record → that
The affection for Bukang-i has meanwhile become an industry, with a commemorative soju, a baseball mascot in a shark cape and an honorary city ambassadorship, and nearby shops reporting a surge in sales.
asserted
shops → become → sales
South Korea’s president, Lee Jae Myung, visited the canal in mid-October.
asserted
president → visit → October
None of the shark’s guardians thought she should be forced out.
asserted
she → think → guardians
Choi said the city should protect her where she was until she left of her own accord.
asserted
she → say → accord
Kim Jong-hwan, who runs a small business, kept watch by day as well and livestreamed her almost every day.
asserted
who → run → her
“I went to pass on information [to my followers], and after that I started observing her”, he said.
asserted
he → go → her
“Watching her over time, with the water pumps being fired and then the nets, I came to find those things being done to her objectionable.
asserted
things → watch → her
So we ended up cheering her on.”
asserted
we → end → her
…and 3 more, not listed.
The Aporia
