World-renowned ice fishing festival kicks off in Hwacheon

A world-famous annual ice fishing festival kicked off Saturday in a remote mountain town in the northeastern province of Gangwon, offering weeks of ice fishing and seasonal activities. The 2026 Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festival will run through Feb. 1 in Hwacheon, just 25 kilometers south of the inter-Korean border and about 90 km northeast of Seoul. "Sancheoneo" is a species of trout known to live only in very clean fresh water. Visitors from all over the nation arrived at the 300,000-square-meter festival ground — roughly the size of around 40 football pitches — from early morning. "(We) will do our best to ensure safety and so that the Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festival can become a winter festival enjoyed by everyone around the world beyond the Republic of Korea," Hwacheon Gov. Choi Moon-soon said at the opening ceremony. This year's festival is expected to attract more than 100,000 foreign visitors, turning Hwacheon, with a population of 22,370, into a global wintertime festival city. Launched in 2003, the event was chosen as the nation's best festival by the culture ministry in 2010Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times