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| ▲ This photo, provided by Taebaek-si, shows the snow-covered city. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
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| ▲ This photo, provided by Taebaek-si, shows the city's snowscape. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
SEOUL, Feb. 21 (Yonhap) -- Even with the 30th Taeabaeksan Snow Festival wrapped up on Jan. 31, signaling the end of winter and greeting the coming of spring, there has been an unprecedentedly endless line of visitors stopping by the Taekbaeksan Mountain every weekend.
Over the first weekend of February (Feb. 4 to 5), the snowy mountain covered in plain white snow attracted 10,486 visitors, followed by 11,218 visitors on the second weekend and 6,621 visitors over the third.
With snow covering the Taebaek area, more people are making a stop at the Mountain even after the Festival: Taebaek had about 10cm of snow falling on Feb. 9 to 10, 2cm on the 14th, and 8cm the next day. With around 14cm of snow already accumulated around the Mountain for three days from Jan. 13 to 15, ahead of the grand opening of the Taebaeksan Snow Festival, the Mountain has been covered in pure white snow, showing off its delicate snowscape.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Festival made its return in three years and successfully attracted more than 300,000 visitors. The city of Taebaek, also dubbed the city of snow, is well known for its massive snowfalls to the extent that it introduces itself on the official webpage as the city with “an average annual snowfall of 78cm.”
Nevertheless, it seemed like the city may not reclaim its title as the “city of snow” with remarkably little snow falling since the late 2010s as well as this January and February.
Shim Eun-mi, the head of Taebaek City’s Culture and Tourism Division, said Tuesday, “We had a hard time with the unprecedently little snow falling over the past decade or so. However, we thankfully were able to hold the Taebaeksan Snow Festival successfully with timely heavy snow falling in the city, which is still attracting visitors every weekend even after the Festival’s wrap-up.”
(This article is translated from Korean to English by Ha eun Lee)
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