A city in South Korea seeks new ways to free a huge gray shark after it slips back into canal

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A city in South Korea was trying Thursday to come up with a new way to free a huge dusky shark out of a narrow canal. Workers in the port city of Busan had herded the shark, nicknamed Bukangi, out of the canal the day before, after weeks of trial and error — only for it to swim right back in hours later.

Now Busan authorities and the country’s Oceans and Fisheries Ministry are determined to guide Bukangi back to open water, saying it is critical for the shark’s safety and health.

The unconventional rescue effort on Wednesday involved dozens of workers maneuvering a floating platform through the canal to push the 3-meter-long (9.8-foot) female shark out. After lingering in nearby waters for hours, the shark swam beneath an outer barrier net installed on the platform that night and reentered the waterway.

According to officials, Bukangi is now stuck between that net and a second one about 50 meters (55 yards) into the mouth of the canal, with on-site inspectors and rescuers debating ways to guide it back out as the shark circles the small patch of water.

Lee Gwang-seok, an official with the Oceans and Fisheries Ministry, said Bukangi was unlikely to slip past more barriers and move farther up the canal, considering the density of the nets and the narrow waterway in that section that leaves little room for the shark to squeeze through.

There were no signs that the shark had been feeding regularly during its monthlong stay in the canal, and falling water temperatures could pose additional health risks, officials say.

The local Busan authorities did not immediately say when a new rescue effort for Bukangi would proceed.

Sharing the Korean name of Busan’s North Port, where it was first spotted in mid-September, Bukangi had become a major tourist attraction as it slowly circled the canal, its fins slicing through the water’s surface.

Busan officials, who made Bukangi a city mascot, say the shark attracted more than 1.7 million visitors to the canal, and hundreds of people lined up along the canal on Wednesday to watch the unusual rescue effort.

Marine scientists don’t have a clear answer as to why the shark entered the canal, or why it has stayed.

Its behavior may have something to do with Busan being one of Asia’s busiest ports — away from the ruckus, the narrow canal may appear to be a safe space, according to Kim Hyun-woo, a senior researcher at South Korea’s National Institute of Fisheries Science.

The North Port is a major hub for container and cruise traffic, possibly producing an intimidating environment for the shark. It’s also possible that the noise from vessels, bright lights and electric fields generated by nearby facilities and equipment have interfered with the shark’s senses, Kim said. While authorities have stressed the need to get Bukangi out to sea quickly, Kim said patience will be key, giving the shark time to adjust to the waters beyond the canal before venturing farther out.

“The shark has been staying inside the canal for an extended period, so I didn’t expect it to head straight out into the open water,” Kim said. “It would be best to give it about a week to leave on its own.”

Wednesday’s operation was the third attempt to free Bukangi, following failed efforts on Sept. 29 and Oct. 2 that involved boats spraying streams of water and nets placed across the narrow waterway.

Bukangi avoided the boats and swam over the nets. Dusky sharks can grow up to 4.2 meters (13.7 feet) long and live in tropical and temperate waters around the world, roaming long distances to find waters ranging between 18-26 degrees Celsius (64-79 degrees Fahrenheit) while feeding on fish and squid, according to Kim’s institute.

The species reproduces slowly, making it vulnerable to population declines, and is listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources.

Water temperatures in the Busan area were around 20 degrees Celsius (68 degrees Fahrenheit) on Thursday morning, according to official data.

A shark is stuck in guiding nets connected to floating pontoons installed on the waterway of North Port Waterfront Park in Busan, South Korea, Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2026. (Son Hyung-joo/Yonhap via AP)

A shark swims in a canal of the North Port Waterfront Park in Busan, South Korea, Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026. (Cha Keun-ho/Yonhap via AP)

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — A man has been charged with threatening an Australian lawmaker’s staff with nunchucks, police said Thursday, days after another legislator was critically injured when a man repeatedly hit her with a car.

Nunchucks are a weapon used in martial arts consisting of two sticks or rods connected by a rope or chain.

The incidents are heightening concerns about female politicians’ safety and raising concerns about security in a country where lawmakers are highly accessible to the public.

Police say that a 56-year-old man entered Western Australian state government minister Hannah Beazley’s electorate office in suburban Perth on Wednesday, brandishing nunchucks and making verbal threats. Beazley wasn't in the office at the time.

The man was detained and charged with being armed in a way that may cause fear and with threatening to perform an unlawful act. He spent the night in police custody and will appear in a Perth court later Thursday, police said.

There was no allegation the man’s behavior was connected to the driver who hit federal lawmaker Helen Haines with his car in the east coast state of Victoria on Monday.

Haines' alleged attacker, Brendan Nugent, appeared in a court on Wednesday charged with intentionally causing serious injury, dangerous driving causing serious injury and causing harm to a federal official. He did not enter pleas and remains in custody.

Police are still searching for a motive.

Haines, a 65-year-old independent lawmaker, remained in critical condition on Thursday in a Melbourne hospital where surgeons have amputated both her legs, a health department statement said.

Both the Haines and Beazley incidents have raised concerns about the safety of female politicians, who account for a growing proportion of lawmakers in Australian parliaments.

Just under 50% of federal lawmakers and a majority of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s Cabinet are women.

Australian lawmakers are some of the most accessible in the world and political violence has traditionally been rare. But there are fears that increasingly toxic public debate driven by social media creates additional risks for elected women.

Albanese said the fact that the threat to Beazley came so soon after the alleged attack on Haines was “just heartbreaking.” Beazley is the daughter of Albanese's former federal colleague, Kim Beazley.

“We can have debate and disagreement, but do it in a way without descending into the sort of violence that we have seen in too many parts of the world,” Albanese told Australian Broadcasting Corp. “It’s certainly not who we are as Australians.”

Albanese attended an online security briefing this week for women lawmakers in his center-left Labor Party. Security agencies addressed misogynistic threats directed at them.

Male and female federal lawmakers agree that women are facing the worst of the online abuse.

“Of course people are concerned. They’re anxious,” Albanese said. “There has been a normalization of behavior that can be very aggressive in a way that wasn’t happening a couple of decades ago.”

Hannah Beazley said she was in the state parliament when the man entered her electorate office demanding to see her.

Beazley said two members of her staff had been “rattled,” but had remained safe behind a security screen.

“We don't know his motives at all,” she told reporters on Wednesday.

Governor-General Sam Mostyn, who is only the second woman to ever serve as the British monarch’s representative in Australia, said that she was abused on social media for speaking at a press conference on Wednesday alongside Haines’ husband Phil Haines.

“Like any woman who has stepped up into any position across any part of our society, there is a unique and pernicious form of attack that comes our way,” Mostyn told ABC.

“Women across the country know that there are certain things that are reserved for women in that attack that go to our gender and they are often vicious and just despicable,” she added.

Western Australian state government minister Hannah Beazley arrive for a Labor caucus meeting in Perth, Australia, June 6, 2023. (Richard Wainwright/AAP Image via AP)