The Seoul city government has invited eleven people to participate in its annual bell-ringing ceremony to usher in the new year in downtown Seoul.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government said Friday that the head of Ajou University Hospital's regional trauma center Lee Cook-jong is among the eleven to join Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon at Bosingak Pavilion Monday night at midnight on New Year's eve.

Lee treated a South Korean freighter skipper wounded during a rescue operation from Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden in 2011, as well as a North Korean soldier who suffered gunshot wounds while defecting to the South last year.

Kim Shin-yeol, the wife of late Dokdo resident Kim Sung-do, Park Soo-yeon, a campaigner on eradicating digital sex crimes who was included in this year's BBC 100 Women, and Olympic speed skating champion Lee Sang-hwa will also attend.

The city government has extended bus and subway operations until 2 a.m. on Tuesday for citizens who wish to attend the year-end event.