By Kim Young Deok and Yoon Sojung

Foreign media have provided major coverage of how COVID-19 changed the observance of Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving) this year.

The Los Angeles Times on Oct. 1 said in the article ''Zoom, drones, and virtual offerings: South Korea's ancestral rites go digital in COVID-19 times,'' ''Having disrupted so much of the living, the COVID-19 pandemic is also altering remembrance of the dead.''

''Authorities in South Korea, out of concerns the holiday could lead to a surge in infections, have waged campaigns encouraging people to hold traditional ceremonies over Zoom or Google Meet, visit gravesites virtually through newly launched online portals and check in on the resting place of their ancestors through drone footage posted on YouTube.''

Mentioning the closure or limited opening of all public cemeteries, the daily said, ''Such unease seemed as if from another time.''

In the article ''Coronavirus remakes South Koreans’ Thanksgiving traditions,'' The Associated Press on Sept. 29 said, ''Many South Koreans are observing the Chuseok autumn holiday differently than in past years, when millions of people traveled to visit their hometowns.''

Quoting Minister of Health and Welfare Park Neung-hoo, who on Sept. 25 urged people to say hello in a non-contact manner during the holiday period, the article introduced the Korean government's coronavirus prevention measures including avoiding family visits and encouraging the holding of online ancestral rituals.

The U.S. daily Wall Street Journal on Sept. 29 also reported changes in Chuseok observance because of the pandemic in its article ''The In-Laws Will Have to Wait: Covid Forces a Break From Stress-Filled Holiday.''

Mentioning Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun's advice to Koreans not to visit their hometowns during this year's holiday, the article said, ''That advice was enthusiastically embraced by some of South Korea’s 52 million residents.''

Quoting a recent Gallup Korea poll, it added, ''About one in five South Koreans plan to travel back to their ancestral home this year for the three-day celebration.''

''It's the lowest number ever recorded and about half that of a typical year.''

AFP also reported on Sept. 29 changes in Chuseok in Korea due to the pandemic, including online family gatherings and the closure of memorial parks during the holiday period.

Citing the halved number of train passengers who bought tickets to visit their families and the temporary closure of memorial parks, the French-based wire service said the repeated advice of Korean health authorities to avoid visiting family during the holiday created a public consensus to refrain from traveling.

kyd1991@korea.kr