SEOUL: South Korea’s largest theme park, Everland, opened an online vote to name its 77-day-old baby panda, with five finalists in the running.
All five candidates are two-character Chinese names ending in “Bao.”
The character means “treasure” and appears in the names for pandas from the same family.
Voters can select their favorite from: Ju Bao (“treasured jade”), Jun Bao (“outstanding treasure”), Lin Bao (“treasure precious as jade”), Yu Bao (“blessed treasure”) and Shu Bao (“dawn-bright treasure”).
Everland said the five names were chosen from more than 10,000 suggestions submitted last month.
The vote is open through Aug 30 via the Everland app and at Panda World, as well as on the Chinese Embassy in Korea’s social media channels.
The winning name will be announced in mid-September, when the cub turns 100 days old.
Prizes will be offered to 21 selected participants, including a trip to a panda base in China, an invitation to the baby panda's 100-day celebration, baby panda footprint merchandise, and Everland tickets.
At a recent health checkup, the female baby panda weighed about 3.7 kilograms, 20 times its birth weight of 171 grams on June 3.
The cub's parents, Ai Bao and Le Bao, were brought to Korea in 2016 under a 15-year contract for joint research.
She is also the younger sister of Pu Bao, who was born in 2020, and twins Rui Bao and Hui Bao, born in 2023.
Under the agreement, the firstborn, Pu Bao, was sent to Wolong Shenshuping Base in China's Sichuan Province in 2024. - The Korea Herald/ANN
