A video showing Santa Claus flying through the Korean night sky on Christmas Eve has been released by the United States and Canada's joint air defense.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command (Norad), jointly operated by the United States and Canada, said on its official "Norad Tracks Santa" Facebook page at around 11:27 p.m. on Wednesday that "Santa has arrived in Seoul, spreading holiday cheer across South Korea!"
In the footage, Santa's sleigh flies past major Seoul landmarks, including the 63 Building in Yeouido, N Seoul Tower on Mount Namsan and Lotte World Tower in Jamsil.
From Christmas Eve through Christmas Day, Norad tracks Santa's route in real time and shares the informarion through its "Norad Tracks Santa" website, YouTube and social media accounts. The sleigh is pulled by a total of nine reindeer -- led by Rudolph with his glowing red nose -- and a sack full of gifts sits in the back.
"Santa would never rush the important job of distributing presents to children and spreading holiday cheer to everyone, so the only logical conclusion is that Santa functions within a different time-space continuum than the rest of us," said Norad on its Santa tracking website. "Santa is a true mystery to us all!"
Norad, which guards North American airspace 365 days a year, began tracking Santa's flight path for children in 1956, making this year the 70th anniversary of the tradition, which began after a child dialed the wrong phone number in 1955.
A newspaper in Colorado Springs ran a department store advertisement that encouraged children to "call Santa," but the phone number was misprinted, leading children to call the Continental Air Defense Command, Norad's predecessor.
Air Force Col. Harry Shoup reportedly answered a call on an emergency phone, and when he heard a child say, "Is this Santa Claus?" he replied, "Ho, ho, ho," and asked if the child "had been a good boy," according to NPR.
"Norad confirms Santa's sleigh is a versatile, multipurpose [...] vehicle capable of traveling vast distances without refueling," said the U.S. Department of War.
Additionally, the reindeer eat "hay, oats and carrots" to stay energized, according to Norad's Santa tracker website
"In space, our satellites have infrared sensors that help us track Rudolph, actually, because of his glowing nose, and that's how we're able to [...] pinpoint Santa's exact location as he travels around the world," said Dipen Mistry, the chief warrant officer of Norad's Canadian region, according to Dakota News Now.
The sleigh's top speed is faster than starlight. It can carry up to 60,000 tons of cargo, with its takeoff weight amounting to 75,000 gumdrops. Santa himself weighs 260 pounds and is about 5 feet 7 inches tall.
Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump had some choice words for "a bad Santa" on Wednesday, according to Axios. "We want to make sure that Santa is being good," said Trump. "Santa is a very good person."
"We want to make sure that he's not infiltrated, that we're not infiltrating into our country a bad Santa," he said during a call with a child from Oklahoma. "But we found out that Santa is good. Santa loves you. Santa loves Oklahoma like I do. You know, Oklahoma was very good to me in the election, so I love Oklahoma. Don't ever leave Oklahoma, OK?"
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY HYEON YE-SEUL [[email protected]]