▲ South Korea's first twin pandas, Rui Bao and Hui Bao, celebrate their third birthday with a special bamboo cake at Everland in Yongin, just south of Seoul, on July 7, 2026, ahead of their scheduled return to China this winter. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)

pandas-birthday

Twin pandas enjoy last birthday party before returning to China

YONGIN, South Korea, July 7 (Yonhap) --- A birthday party was thrown Tuesday for twin pandas at an amusement park in Yongin, just south of Seoul, with the South Korea-born animals set to return to China in the near future.

Zookeepers and around 30 fans gathered to mark the third birthday of Rui Bao and Hui Bao, who are scheduled to return to China later in the year.

China has ownership of all pandas, including those born outside of China, and sends them to other countries only on a lease basis. Pandas, which are an endangered species, must return to their home country before turning four, when their reproductive maturity begins.

To mark the third and last birthday party here before their return, zookeepers prepared a massive cake made of bamboo -- pandas' favorite snack -- and gifted them a custom-made wooden bench designed for the pair to sit together.

Born on July 7, 2023 as South Korea's first naturally bred twin pandas, Rui Bao and Hui Bao weighed 180 grams and 140 grams, respectively, at birth. They have since grown into healthy adults, both now weighing well over 80 kilograms.

Their older sister, Fu Bao, who triggered a massive fandom craze in South Korea, returned to China in April 2024 before reaching her fourth birthday.

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