The 14th Seoul World Fireworks Festival kicked off with an impressive fireworks show organized by Hanwha Group at Han River Park in Yeouido, Seoul, painting the sky bright red. The exciting event lasted for an hour and 20 minutes, with some 1 million people gathered to watch, including the residents of Yeouido. Hanwha Group first kicked off the annual fireworks event in 2000 as part of its social contribution activities with the Korea Creative Content Agency as a supporter.
What made this year’s fireworks festival more exciting was that three countries, including Japan, Spain and Korea, got together with their fireworks experts to shoot some 100,000 pieces fireworks into the sky this year, stitching Seoul's autumn skies with stunning explosions of every color imaginable.
The beautiful sight over Yeouido was visible for miles away, including the areas of Seoul located on the north side of the Han River. It truly was a memorable event for viewers, creating memories that will last a lifetime. All of the fireworks were shot off from a canvass measuring some 600 meters wide and 400 meters tall, the largest such canvass in the world, for over 70 minutes. Hanwha Group wanted to make this year’s fireworks festival “more magical, to comfort the minds of the residents that suffered from the earthquakes in the Gyeongju Area,” while the economy this year has not been as good as in past years.
This year’s firework festival opened with Japan’s Tamaya Kitahara Fireworks “Turn Your Magic On,” which is unique to the Japanese fireworks group.
The group has won many awards at firework festivals around the world, including one in Shanghai in 2000, followed by more in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and the U.S. The Japanese fireworks firm demonstrated its unique ability to coordinate the sound its fireworks like a musical.
Spain’s Pirotechia Igual, which followed the Japanese show, enthralled viewers with its “Magic Light Dreams” show. It was designed to turn the festival into a musical event, with fireworks shot off rhythmically.
Igual Co. started its fireworks business in 1880 and has conducted more than 600 fireworks shows since then around the world. They are known for bright colors in harmony. The Spanish company conducted its fireworks shows in the opening and closing ceremonies of the Barcelona Summer Olympics in 1992 and supplied fireworks to be used in the Rio Summer Olympics this year, strengthening its position as the top fireworks maker in Europe.
Hanwha Group took care of the finale for the festival at around 8 p.m. under the theme of “Magic Like Fireflames” following the Spanish fireworks show.
The Korean fireworks show unfolded as a story, following narration, videos, fireworks, and special effects to impress the crowd. The fireworks formed the Korean letters, volcanoes, and others, to bring unusual and fantastic festival to a close.
Like last year, fireworks were shot off from a barge floating between the Mapo Bridge and Wonhyo Bridge on the Han River so that the fireworks were visible in a wide area to as many people as possible.
Hanhwa Group kicked off its fireworks program in 1964 and became a global fireworks company after holding shows at a number of global sports events, including the 1986 Asian Games, the 1988 Seoul Olympics and the 2002 World Cup opening and closing ceremonies.
Hanwha Group also hosted a fireworks show for the media at Sonyu Island Park in Seoul at 10 a.m. on Oct. 5, with the fireworks teams from three countries participating, including those form Korea, Japan and Spain. The fireworks designers and engineers from those countries showed how they set up fireworks on barges. They demonstrated their fireworks skills on 20 barges some 50 meters long at Sonyu Island.
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