Jinju Nam River Floating Lantern Festival
Also known as the Jinju Namgang Yudeung Festival.
🗓️ 2026.10.03 ~ 2026.10.18
Yudeung (floating lanterns) originated during the Battle of Jinju Castle, one of the three major victories of the Imjin War. Lanterns were floated on the Namgang River as military signals to communicate with righteous army soldiers outside the fortress and as a means of communication for family members to send greetings during the battle. Jinju citizens carried this tradition through the Yudeung Contest, a program of the Gaecheon Arts Festival, which has been held since 1949 and is the pioneer of Korea’s local comprehensive arts festivals. Since 2000, the event has been held independently as the Jinju Namgang Yudeung Festival.
Yudeung has been sublimated into a festival wishing for peace, love, happiness, and the fulfillment of desires. It has grown into a global festival that shares the value of peace with people around the world. Every autumn in Jinju, the City of Light and Peace, the Namgang River and the Jinju Fortress area become the setting for a landscape of floating lanterns, where visitors can reflect on the historical meaning embedded in the scenery.
Main Programs
- Floating lantern exhibition – The core display, covering the Namgang River with floating lanterns.
- Land lantern exhibition – Lantern installations throughout the Jinju Fortress area.
- Drone light show – A coordinated drone display above the festival.
- Water fireworks display – Fireworks staged over the water.
Side Programs
- Night parade – A parade held after dark through the festival area.
- Gaecheon Arts Festival – Accompanying festival running 10.9.–10.18.
- Korea Drama Festival – Accompanying festival running 10.9.–10.18.
Consumer Participation Programs
- Hanging wish lanterns – Write wishes and hang lanterns as part of the display.
- Floating lanterns – Send your own lantern onto the Namgang River.
- Crossing the floating bridge – Walk across the floating bridge for a closer view of the river lanterns.
Other Details
- Cruise ship experience – View the illuminated river from a cruise ship.
Practical Information
📍 Address: 626 Namgang-ro, Jinju-si, Gyeongsangnam-do (Bonseong-dong)
🛏️ Accommodation near the event
💰 Fee: Free
📞 Inquiry: 055-761-9111, 055-755-9111
⭐️ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yudeung_festival/
🖥️ Website: https://yudeung.com/
The association between floating lanterns and Jinju’s Namgang River begins with the Imjin War (1592–1598). In 1592, during the first Siege of Jinju, the fortress commander General Kim Si-min ordered lanterns to be launched on the river as a defensive measure. The Namgang ran along the southern side of the fortress and was the most likely approach for a night attack. Hundreds of lit lanterns were placed on the water, making the river visible and exposing anyone trying to cross. The lights also served as a signaling system. Different arrangements and movements of lanterns allowed units stationed along the river and inside the fortress to communicate without sending runners or raising an alarm.
The tactic worked well enough that it became one of the memorable features of the battle. After the war, the military use of lanterns developed into a commemorative custom. The people of Jinju released lanterns on the Namgang to honor the defenders who had died in the siege, and the practice later came to include expressions of personal hope or remembrance. It was not an unbroken ritual from 1592, but the memory of the wartime origin is what gave the later custom its meaning.
The Jinju Namgang Yudeung Festival is the modern continuation of that history. Held each autumn, it reconstructs the scene of lanterns drifting on the river. Visitors are invited to launch their own lanterns, and the festival’s main program is designed around this act. What links the contemporary event to the original is not sentimentality but the continuity of a practical technique: a method of lighting a river at night, first used as defense, later becoming a way of marking what was lost and what was hoped for.
