Hug Dream Festival

🗓️ 2026.10.02 ~ 2026.10.03

Since its inception in 2021, the Hug Dream Festival—organized by Gyeongsangbuk-do—has grown into the largest safety experience event in the Gyeongbuk region. The festival provides residents with a comprehensive environment where they can engage in various safety experiences, exhibitions, and performances through direct participation. For the 2026 iteration, the organizers have collaborated with approximately 40 institutions and organizations to operate about 70 high-quality safety experience programs.

What distinguishes this event from standard safety drills is the integration of entertainment and real-world equipment. While children can enjoy magic shows and bubble shows, other attendees can witness the precision of search-and-rescue dog training demonstrations and drone events. The festival also offers a tangible look at emergency response through exhibitions of actual fire trucks, firefighting equipment, and unmanned water spray vehicles used in the field.

Specialized activities have been curated for all age groups: infants and toddlers can participate in safety gymnastics with Daekyo TniTni and enjoy air bounces, while other residents can engage in side events such as stamp tours, treasure hunts, fire brigade parades, the ‘Hug Dream Fire Academy’, and the ‘Safety UP Physical Fitness Festival’.

1. Main Programs

The festival features a diverse lineup of activities designed to educate and entertain, including:

• Stamp tours, Safety Promise Challenges, and Safety OX Quizzes.
• Entertainment such as magic shows, bubble shows, and the Hero Parade.
• Professional demonstrations including fire brigade band performances, search-and-rescue dog training, and simultaneous water discharge from fire trucks.
• TniTni safety gymnastics for young children.

2. Experience Programs

With around 60 programs divided into five distinct fields, the festival ensures a comprehensive approach to public safety:

• Fire Safety: Practical training with water extinguishers and indoor fire hydrants, fire evacuation drills, and the use of descending life lines (완강기).
• Traffic Safety: Instruction on the proper use of seatbelts, navigating crosswalks, and personal mobility device safety.
• Disaster Safety: Simulations for ship safety, crossing valleys, earthquakes, wind and flood damage, and general weather-related experiences.
• Life Safety: Guidance on water and leisure safety, mountain safety, electrical and gas safety, and missing child prevention.
• Emergency Safety: Critical life-saving techniques including CPR, the Heimlich maneuver, various first aid methods, and responses to food poisoning.

📍 Address: Galjeon-ri, Pungcheon-myeon, Andong-si, Gyeongsangbuk-do

🛏️ Accommodations near the event

💰 Fee: Free

📞 Inquiry: 010-8266-7331

⭐️ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hug.dream_festival/

The Hug Dream Festival is an annual safety event held in Gyeongsangbuk-do. It focuses on practical training in emergency response through demonstrations and supervised practice. Visitors can learn CPR, practice using an automated external defibrillator, and take part in scenarios that simulate fires, earthquakes, and other natural disasters. First-aid instruction covers basic wound care and bandaging. Instructors and emergency personnel are available throughout the event to guide participants and answer questions.

The activities are designed for people with no prior training, and the festival is open to all ages. Visitors move through different stations at their own pace, spending as much time as they need on each skill. The event does not rely on lectures; instead, participants practice the steps themselves, with feedback from instructors. The goal is straightforward: to let people rehearse what to do in a crisis before they actually face one. The festival is held annually and draws attendees from across the region.

Bupyeong Pungmul Grand Festival

🗓️ 2026.10.02 ~ 2026.10.04

The 30th Bupyeong Pungmul Festival carries a special weight: it is the thirtieth celebration of excitement and harmony resonating within the city center. Since taking its first steps in 1997, the festival has grown from a local gathering into a traditional culture and arts festival representing not only Incheon but all of South Korea. What began as a modest community event now stands as a massive communication space where citizens and artists become one, breathing the country’s unique traditional rhythms into the heart of the urban landscape.

At the core of the festival are the 22 neighborhood Pungmul groups, whose collective rhythms have served as its foundation for three decades. These groups, drawn from districts across Bupyeong-gu, connect residents as one through the driving beats of janggu, buk, jing, and kkwaenggwari—percussion instruments rooted in Korean folk and agricultural tradition. Pungmul is not merely a performance genre; it is a participatory practice, and the festival’s structure reflects that ethos, inviting audiences to step into the rhythm rather than simply observe it.

This year’s edition, held for three days from October 2 to 4, 2026, arrives on a larger and more magnificent scale than ever before. It carries the dual task of reflecting on the lineage of tradition maintained over the past 30 years and celebrating the new future to come. A notable expansion is the addition of the Gulpocheon area, a symbol of Bupyeong’s urban regeneration, as part of the festival grounds. The new venue will host fresh, diverse content, broadening the festival’s reach beyond its familiar downtown footprint.

Festival Programs

Main Programs

• Opening and closing ceremonies
• Bupyeong Daedong Parade
• Bupyeong Manmanse

Side Programs

• Korea Creative Pungmul Competition
• Bupyeong Life Culture Festival
• Pungmul Festa
• National Student Pungmul Competition

The Daedong Parade and Bupyeong Manmanse, in particular, embody the festival’s communal spirit—streets filled with rhythmic ensembles and collective celebration that turn the city center into an open-air stage.

Visitor Information

📍 Address: 34-1 Bupyeong-daero, Bupyeong-gu, Incheon (Bupyeong-dong)

🛏️ Accommodation near the event

💰 Fee: Free

📞 Inquiry: 032-509-7516

⭐️ Instagram: @the_official_bpf

🖥️ Website: Bupyeong Pungmul Festival

What is pungmul?

Pungmul is a traditional Korean percussion performance that comes from farming communities. It combines drumming, dance, and theatrical display. Farmers played these rhythms while planting and harvesting, both to coordinate the work and to pray for good harvests. As village customs expanded, pungmul became a form of street entertainment, with improvised gestures and comic exchanges mixed into the music.

The ensemble is led by the kkwaenggwari, a small gong with a sharp, penetrating tone. It sets the tempo and directs changes. The jing, a large gong, gives a deeper, longer sound, and the buk (barrel drum) and janggu (hourglass drum) lay down the main rhythmic pattern. The instruments are played together in a dense, steady rhythm that keeps the performers synchronized.

The visual part of pungmul is equally controlled. Performers dress in colorful clothes, and those wearing sangmo hats spin long ribbons by turning their heads at precise moments. The ribbons trace wide circles in the air, and the motion is tied to the rhythm of the music. The head movements are athletic and carefully timed; they are not decoration added after the fact but part of the performance.

Pungmul has always been a communal practice. It was played during collective labor, village rites, and seasonal festivals, and those settings still shape the way it is performed. The music gives a group a common tempo and a common task. At the Bupyeong Pungmul Grand Festival, that tradition is presented on a larger stage, keeping the music and its village origins in view.

Perfect-Fit Namsadang Bawudeogi Festival

🗓️ 2026.10.02 ~ 2026.10.05

*The following food information is from the previous year’s (2025) festival; information for the 2026 festival is currently being updated.*

The Anseong Machum Namsadang Baudeogi Festival — known in English as the Perfect-Fit Namsadang Bawudeogi Festival — celebrates Namsadang Nori, a tradition inscribed on UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity list. The festival takes its name and artistic direction from Baudeogi, the first female Kkokdu-soe (troupe leader) of the Joseon Dynasty, and from the spirited style of the Anseong Namsadang troupe. Held from October 2 to 5, 2026, it presents a wide-ranging program designed to appeal to visitors of all ages.

At the heart of the festival is the Anseong Old Market, a recreation of the bustling commerce that made it one of the three largest markets in the country during the Joseon Dynasty. Around that historical anchor, the festival gathers traditional culture experiences, performances by domestic and international traditional art groups, and overseas folk performances. Visitors can encounter the essence of tightrope walking (jultagi) and Namsadang Nori up close, and experience the charm of Korean traditional culture through performances that blend tradition with modernity. Admission is free, and the festival’s combination of history, culture, performance, and tourism has established it as a cultural tourism event enjoyed by domestic and international visitors alike — one of the Republic of Korea’s representative traditional culture festivals.

Festival Programs

Official Events

The festival’s official ceremonies mark the rhythm of the four-day program: a Memorial Service, the Eve Festival, an Opening Ceremony, and the Opening and Closing Ceremonies that bookend the event.

Experiences

Hands-on and immersive experiences include the Baudeogi Theme Park and Baudeogi Culture Tour, which explore the legacy of the festival’s namesake, along with the Anseong Old Market and the Anseong Culture Market.

Exhibition/Promotion

The exhibition and promotion track features the Anseong Livestock Grilled Meat Zone, Agricultural and Livestock Product Sales, the Anseong Master Exhibition, the Baudeogi Light Festival, and the Global Studio.

Performances

The performance lineup is anchored by Namsadang Nori itself, alongside a Traditional Wedding ceremony, Geuk-nori (Traditional Play), and the World Heritage Masterclass.

Citizen Stage

The Citizen Stage brings the community into the program with the THE NEXT Baudeogi Contest, the Citizen Choir Festival, a 100-Person Saxophone performance, and the Citizen Art Stage.

Visitor Information

📍 Address: 198 Namsadang-ro, Bogae-myeon, Anseong-si, Gyeonggi-do

🛏️ Accommodation Near Event

💰 Fee: Free

📞 Inquiry: 031-678-5414

⭐️ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/baudeogi26/

🖥️ Homepage: https://www.anseong.go.kr/

Namsadang Bawudeogi refers to the performance tradition of Korea’s Namsadang itinerant troupes as carried forward through the legacy of Baudeogi, a female troupe leader from Anseong. In Korean, Namsadang means “male itinerant troupe.” For centuries, these traveling performers moved through the countryside, presenting music, acrobatics, comedy, and drama in village squares. Their repertoire included farmers’ band music (pungmul), plate-spinning (buna), acrobatics (salpan), tightrope walking (eoreum), masked dance (deotboegi), and puppet play (deolmi).

Baudeogi is the figure most often associated with Anseong’s Namsadang lineage. Born in the early nineteenth century, she led a troupe at a time when female leadership of such an organization was highly unusual. Contemporary accounts and later histories emphasize her skill on the tightrope, her quick wit, and her ability to manage performers and performances across several disciplines. Under her leadership, the troupe gained a reputation beyond its home region and performed for a wide range of audiences.

In present-day usage, Namsadang Bawudeogi refers to both the historical tradition and its continued practice. The performances are recognized by UNESCO as part of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, and transmission efforts in Anseong and elsewhere remain active. The Anseong Perfect-Fit Namsadang Bawudeogi Festival presents these forms to modern audiences. Its program is organized around the historical repertoire, and Baudeogi’s role is treated as central to the festival’s identity.

Sancheong Traditional Herbal Medicine Festival

🗓️ 2026.10.02 ~ 2026.10.11

*The food contents of the festival listed below are from the previous year’s (2025) festival; food contents for the 2026 festival are currently being updated.*

The 26th Sancheong Oriental Medicine & Herb Festival is an oriental medicine and wellness festival rooted in the value of the “Dongui Bogam,” a UNESCO Memory of the World, and the pristine natural environment of Jirisan Mountain. In the Dongui Bogam Village area, it introduces the history and culture of traditional Korean medicine and runs a wide range of content themed around health and healing, including experiences, exhibitions, and performances.

The festival’s themed programs—Sancheong Hyemineseo, My Body’s Herbal Medicine Experience, and the Oriental Medicine Wellness Pavilion—are designed to let visitors directly experience anti-aging and a healthy living culture. Alongside these programs, the event offers local food, cultural performances, and family participation activities that people of all ages can enjoy together. It also serves as a venue to introduce Sancheong’s oriental medicine and herb resources, anti-aging industry, and health and healing tourism resources to domestic and international audiences. By expanding content for foreign tourists and strengthening overseas promotion, the festival aims to grow into a global event beyond Korea.

Festival Programs

Official Events

• Opening Ceremony
• Closing Ceremony

Themed Events

• Sancheong Hyemineseo
• My Body’s Herbal Medicine Experience
• Oriental Medicine Wellness Pavilion

Performance Events

• Sancheong Wellness Retreat Parade
• K-Hallyu Festival
• World Culture Festival
• Street Herb Sellers
• Keundeul Madanggeuk (traditional outdoor play) performances and other linked events by stage

Experience Events

• K-Herb Demon Hunters Stamp Tour
• Children’s Oriental Medicine School
• Town/Township Local Experience Zones
• Sancheong Herb Treasure Hunt
• Crown Haitai Snack Imagination Playground
• Silent Yoga, etc.

Exhibition Events

Permanent exhibitions:

• Expo Theme Pavilion
• Sancheong Korean Medicine Museum
• Sancheong Herb Pavilion

Sales Events

• Agricultural and Special Product Market
• Herb Market
• Handicraft Exhibition and Sales Market, etc.

Other Events

• Wellness Retreat Business Round Table

Visitor Information

📍 Address: 45-6 Donguibogam-ro 555beon-gil, Geumseo-myeon, Sancheong-gun, Gyeongsangnam-do

🛏️ Accommodations near the event

💰 Fee: Free (Some paid)

📞 Inquiry: 055-970-6670~1

⭐️ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/scherbfest/

🖥️ Website: http://scherb.or.kr/

Sancheong County sits at the southern edge of Jirisan, in South Gyeongsang Province. It is known for herbal medicine, and the reason is largely geographic: the mountain climate, water, and soil support hundreds of medicinal plant species—over 700 by most counts. Knowledge of how to grow and use these plants has been passed through families and local practitioners, and it remains a practical part of the area’s economy.

The county’s most visible event is the annual Sancheong Traditional Herbal Medicine Festival, where wild ginseng and locally grown herbs are displayed. The festival shows how the plants are processed and used, from drying and boiling to making ointments and decoctions.

Jirisan provides the second reason people come. The county is a base for walking trails into the mountains, along forested ridges and valleys. For visitors, the experience is straightforward: hiking, herbal markets, and small restaurants serving local food. Sancheong is not a resort in the usual sense, but the mountain landscape and the herb trade give it a character few other places in the country have.

Geumsan World Ginseng Festival

🗓️ 2026.10.02 ~ 2026.10.11

The food information for the festival below is based on the previous year’s (2025) festival content; the content for the 2026 festival is currently being updated.

About the Festival

Geumsan, in Chungcheongnam-do, is the home of ginseng, with a cultivation history spanning 1,500 years. The Geumsan World Ginseng Festival draws on this legacy to offer a wide-ranging program of experiences and attractions for all age groups. Among the highlights are ginseng digging experiences, red ginseng pack massages, red ginseng foot baths, the International Ginseng Trade Fair, and traditional ginseng culture experiences. Affordable shopping is another central part of the event, with a range of ginseng products available at accessible prices.

First held in 1981, the festival has taken place annually ever since. Its reputation as an industry-type festival representing Korea is reflected in ten designations as one of the nation’s top 10 best festivals by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, as well as its selection as an IFEA World Asia Specialty Product Festival in 2024. The event continues to evolve into a global festival shared with people from around the world.

Programs and Activities

Main Programs

• Ginseng digging experience trip – A hands-on opportunity to dig for ginseng.
• Red ginseng foot bath experience – A relaxing foot bath using water infused with red ginseng.
• etc.

Side Programs

• Ginseng King contest – A competition to find the year’s finest ginseng.
• Ginseng Festival – A ginseng-themed cultural program.
• Night drone lighting show – An evening drone display.

Consumer Participation Programs

• Geumsan Ginseng art experience – Art activities themed around ginseng.
• Geumsan Ginseng Folk Village – A traditional village experience centered on ginseng culture.
• Family traditional game experiences – Traditional games for families to enjoy together.
• etc.

Visitor Information

📍 Address: 30 Insamgwangjang-ro, Geumsan-eup, Geumsan-gun, Chungcheongnam-do

🛏️ Accommodation near the event

💰 Fee: Free admission (Some paid activities 2,000 won ~ 5,000 won)

📞 Inquiry: 041-750-2316

⭐️ Instagram: geumsan_travel

🖥️ Homepage: www.insamfestival.co.kr

What is ginseng?

Ginseng is a slow-growing perennial plant whose fleshy root has been used in traditional medicine for centuries, particularly in East Asia. The species most commonly used for health purposes is Panax ginseng, also known as Asian ginseng, which is native to Korea and northeastern China. The genus name Panax comes from the Greek for “all-healing,” reflecting the root’s historical reputation as a general tonic.

The plant itself is not conspicuous: it grows low to the ground, with five-lobed leaves and small red berries. The root is the part that is harvested. It takes at least four to six years to mature, and its shape can resemble a human figure; the Chinese name insam (人参) is often translated as “human root.” Traditionally, root shape and age were used as indicators of quality, with older and more anthropomorphic roots commanding higher prices.

In Korean medicine, ginseng is classified as an adaptogen, meaning it is thought to help the body cope with stress and maintain stamina. It is commonly taken as tea, extract, powder, or added to soups and alcoholic preparations. The active compounds, ginsenosides, are the basis for most research into the plant’s effects. Processing determines the final form: fresh ginseng is used raw, white ginseng is air-dried, and red ginseng is steamed and dried. Red ginseng is generally treated as the most concentrated preparation.

Ginseng also occupies a particular place in Korean social life. It is often given to elders and guests as a mark of respect, and its use is not limited to times of illness or fatigue. Geumsan County, in South Chungcheong Province, has been a center of cultivation for over 1,500 years. The region’s climate, soil, and long history of farming make it one of the principal ginseng-producing areas in Korea. The Geumsan World Ginseng Festival, held each year, is organized around the harvest and sale of the root; visitors can watch grading, learn about traditional processing, and buy fresh and dried ginseng from local growers.

Gimje Horizon Festival

🗓️ 2026.10.01 ~ 2026.10.05

The Gimje Horizon Festival is one of Korea’s Honorary Representative Culture and Tourism Festivals, designated by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. It is the only one among them built around traditional agricultural culture, and it takes place at Byeokgolje, the oldest and largest irrigation facility in Korea. Against a backdrop of vast golden fields and the horizon, the festival offers a range of attractions, including the nation’s first Presidential Cup National Nongak (Farmers’ Music) Competition. Visitors can also try agricultural activities directly, such as cooking rice in a traditional hearth, catching grasshoppers, harvesting rice, and threshing. On-site folk events—including the Ssangyong (Twin Dragons) Play, based on the Byeokgolje legend, and the Ipseok Tug-of-War, held to pray for a bountiful harvest—invite audience participation and add to the festival atmosphere.

Main Programs

• Presidential Cup Horizon National Nongak Competition: The only Presidential Cup competition among national festival competitions. Regional Nongak teams from across the country take part, giving visitors the chance to experience the essence of traditional Korean farmers’ music and dance.

• Byeokgolje Legend Ssangyong Play: A representative traditional event and cultural performance staged with residents of Buryang-myeon, Gimje-si. It is a situational performance based on the Twin Dragon legend connected to Byeokgolje, the main stage of the Gimje Horizon Festival.

• Bountiful Harvest Prayer Ipseok Tug-of-War: A traditional folk game and cultural performance operated with residents of Gyowol-dong, Gimje-si. It is held to pray for a bountiful harvest on the first full moon of the lunar year.

Experience Programs

• Earth Art Zipline Experience: An exotic leisure sport experience crossing over the large-scale Earth Art, a paddy field experience center created at Byeokgolje.

• Cooking Rice in a Traditional Hearth: An experience to cook and eat cauldron rice together with family using a small traditional hearth.

• Horizon Kite Flying: A program to fly various kites simultaneously, billed as the largest kite-flying project in the country.

Subsidiary Programs

• LED Earth Art: A nighttime landscape created by installing lighting on the Earth Art installation, which depicts Ssarikong-i in Hanbok welcoming visitors with the abundance and warmth of the horizon.

• Ssarikong-i Bale Art Exhibition: A bale art exhibition that showcases the festival’s sensibility, with drawings ranging from the Ssarikong-i character to popular characters.

• Horizon Final Fantasy Show: A final media show combining lasers, lighting, fireworks, and multimedia as a large-scale night spectacle.

Food and Other Programs

• Regionally Specialized Food Booths: Booths selling representative foods from towns, townships, and villages, as well as food from representative local restaurants selected through the ‘Matbo-jago Competition’, a project to eliminate poor-quality festival food.

• Horizon Greeting Street: Snack sales booths for the younger generation to enjoy.

• Agricultural and Special Products Direct Market: A market selling raw and processed agricultural, livestock, and fishery products and special products produced in Gimje.

Practical Information

📍 Address: 442 Byeokgolje-ro, Buryang-myeon, Gimje-si, Jeonbuk State

🛏️ Accommodation near the event

💰 Fee: Free (Some paid)

📞 Inquiry: 063-540-3172

⭐️ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gimjehorizonfestival/

🖥️ Homepage: http://festival.gimje.go.kr/

What is Byeokgolje?

Byeokgolje is an ancient agricultural reservoir in Gimje, Jeollabuk-do, South Korea. It was built during the Baekje period in the early 4th century and is among the oldest and largest irrigation facilities in Korean history. The name can be translated as “reservoir made of a wall of earth,” referring to the large embankment that held water for farmland.

The reservoir served the Gimje Plain, a major grain-producing area. It collected water from nearby streams and released it during dry periods, allowing farmers to grow rice more consistently. This supported the Baekje kingdom and later states that relied on the region’s harvests. The scale of the structure was considerable for its time, and its design influenced irrigation works elsewhere in Korea.

The site is now designated a Historic Site, and parts of the embankment remain visible in the fields. During the Gimje Horizon Festival, Byeokgolje is used as the setting for events and demonstrations of traditional farming tools and techniques. Visitors can walk along the old reservoir routes and see how the landscape has been shaped by long-term agricultural use.

Gunsan Time Travel Festival

🗓️ 2026.10.02 ~ 2026.10.05

The Gunsan Time Travel Festival is a special journey through time, connecting the past, present, and future of Gunsan. Set against the backdrop of present-day Gunsan, a city that preserves the history of popular resistance and the fierce lives people led during the Japanese colonial period, the festival offers more than nostalgia. This year, it is operated as a festival created together by citizens and tourists through richer content and participatory programs.

A wide range of programs is planned, including a large-scale flash mob performance showcasing concentrated global content of the modern era with direct citizen participation; “All of Us 3.5 Manse,” which recreates the shouts of manse throughout the streets; and “Moa-Moa Time,” where participants can collect time to exchange for souvenirs, take part in various events, or exchange it for discount coupons. Alongside these participatory experiences, the festival includes nostalgic games and food carrying the 7080 sensibility, making it a festival the whole family can enjoy together.

With room for both historical reflection and plain enjoyment, the Gunsan Time Travel Festival is a representative festival of Gunsan that anyone can empathize with and participate in across generations and regions. For visitors, it promises a special time-travel experience.

Main Programs

• Global Modern Flash Mob: a large-scale flash mob performance showcasing concentrated global content of the modern era, with direct citizen participation.
• 1919 Taegeukgi Hoisting Operation
• All of Us 3.5 Manse: recreating the shouts of manse throughout the streets.
• Moa-Moa Time: collect time to exchange for souvenirs, participate in various events, or exchange for discount coupons.
• Gunsan Port Night Pier Concours
• etc.

Experience Programs

• Modern Costume Room
• Receive the Mission Public Phone
• Time-for-Time Travel Craft Workshop
• Citizen-Planned Programs
• Future Mailbox Containing Fragrance
• etc.

Side Events

• Street Yard
• Floor Graffiti Zone
• Find the K-Tourism Island
• Tumbler Coupon System
• Peddler Market
• Practical Free Market
• Promotion Booths
• Food Market
• Bang-ya Bang-ya
• Forest Adventure Playground
• Fashion Show
• etc.

Practical Information

📍 Address: Jungang-ro 1-ga, Gunsan-si, Jeonbuk State

🛏️ Accommodation near the event

💰 Fee: Free (some paid)

📞 Inquiry: 063-454-3300

⭐️ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gunsantour/

🖥️ Homepage: https://festival.gunsan.go.kr/

Gunsan is a port city on the western coast of South Korea, in North Jeolla Province. Its harbor faces the Yellow Sea and has been used for trade and passenger travel for more than a century. Gunsan was designated an open port in 1899 and grew quickly during the early 1900s as a commercial center, especially as a rice-exporting port. Many buildings and streets from that period survive: Japanese-style wooden houses, red-brick warehouses and banks, old railway tracks, and narrow alleys. They stand beside Korean traditional markets and temples, so the city offers a wider range of visible historical styles than most Korean cities.

For visitors, Gunsan offers a direct look at Korea’s modern history. Restored districts such as Gyeongam-dong are walkable residential and commercial areas from the early 20th century. The Gunsan Modern History Museum occupies a former bank building and covers the city’s colonial period and postwar changes. The old customs house and former Japanese consulate are also preserved.

The city is known for a few local foods: “Gunsan bread,” a sweet stuffed pastry, and fresh seafood sold near the harbor. During the annual Gunsan Time Travel Festival, the central streets become a setting for historical reenactment. Actors in period clothing walk around, vintage cars are displayed outside restored shopfronts, and visitors can explore the buildings. The festival is a straightforward way to see how the different periods of the city are present in the same streets.

Goseong Pollock Festival

The Goseong Pollock Festival is a local cultural festival that reinterprets pollock culture—a historical and cultural asset of Goseong-gun, Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province—in a contemporary format. From October 2 to 5, 2026, the beach in 11-ri, Geojin-eup, will be set up as the festival ground, with three themed areas in operation: ‘Discovery of Pollock’, ‘Discovery of Residents’, and ‘Discovery of the Sea’.

The festival’s programming spans eating, making, and enjoying pollock. Visitors can explore a pollock gourmet zone, watch chef live cooking, try self-cooking experiences, and take part in pollock crafts and play. Local residents, artists, military personnel, and youth also take part directly, through performances, a village broadcasting station, and the sale of food and props. On the beach, activities include bare-hand live fish catching, a sea playground, and Silent DJ.

Decentralized stages, continuous programs, and shuttle operations are intended to create a stay-type festival ground, so visitors can arrive at different times of the day and still find a full program in progress.

Discovery of Pollock

• Evil-averting pollock chainsaw art
• Pollock drawing contest
• Pollock memory story contest
• Goseong-eo-ryo
• Chef live cooking
• Pollock gourmet zone
• Self-cooking zone
• Pollock craft/one-day class
• Sale of processed pollock products
• Pollock playground

Discovery of Residents

• Safety prayer ceremony
• Local performances
• Invited performances
• Talent shows by military personnel and youth
• Pollock village broadcasting station
• Resident-run pollock restaurants and prop sales

Discovery of the Sea

• Pollock beach bar
• Sea playground
• Bare-hand live fish catching
• Navy ship tour
• AI music festival
• Beach walking
• Fire dancing
• Silent DJ

Getting Around and Convenience

A shuttle operates between Geojin Port and the festival site. Rest areas are available, and guidance is provided on connections to tourist attractions in Goseong-gun and the local commercial districts of Geojin.

Practical Information

• 🗓️ 2026.10.02 ~ 2026.10.05
• 📍 125 Haeoreumhaebyeon-gil, Geojin-eup, Goseong-gun, Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province
• 💰 Free admission (Some experience booths and sales booths are paid)
• 📞 033-681-0121
• 🛏️ Accommodations near the event

Pollock is a cold-water whitefish in the cod family, found in the North Pacific and North Atlantic. In Korea it is called myeongtae (명태), and it has been a regular part of coastal cooking for generations, especially along the eastern shore of Gangwon Province.

The fish is lean and mild, and its usefulness comes from the number of ways it can be kept and cooked. Fresh pollock, or saengtae (생태), goes into soups and stews. Dried pollock, or hwangtae (황태), develops a concentrated, nutty flavor and a chewy texture. Frozen pollock is known as dongtae (동태), and the roe is salted and fermented into changnan-jeot (창란젓). The flesh, bones, innards, and eggs all have their uses, so little of the catch is wasted.

The Goseong Pollock Festival is built around this local staple. Visitors can sample the various preparations, try catching pollock themselves, and see why the fish has mattered to the region’s diet and economy for centuries.