World-renowned ice fishing festival to open in Hwacheon on Sat.

유청모 / 2026-01-08 15:40:09

ice fishing fest-opening

▲ This undated file photo, provided by the Hwacheon County Office, shows the Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festival under way in Hwacheon, northeast of Seoul. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

▲ This undated file photo, provided by the Hwacheon County Office, shows foreign tourists enjoying the Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festival in Hwacheon, northeast of Seoul. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

▲ This undated file photo, provided by the Hwacheon County Office, shows tourists enjoying bare-hand fishing in Hwacheon, northeast of Seoul. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

ice fishing fest-opening

World-renowned ice fishing festival to open in Hwacheon on Sat.

HWACHEON, South Korea, Jan. 8 (Yonhap) -- A world-famous annual ice fishing festival is to kick off in Hwacheon, a remote mountain town in the northeastern province of Gangwon, this weekend, organizers said Thursday.

The 2026 Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festival will open Saturday and continue for 23 days through Feb. 1 in Hwacheon, located just 25 kilometers south of the inter-Korean border and about 90 km northeast of Seoul, the organizers said. "Sancheoneo" is a species of trout known to live only in very clean fresh water.

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 2010 and had drawn more than 1 million visitors for 13 straight years, from 2006 to 2019.

Last year's event attracted over 1.86 million visitors, surpassing the previous record of 1.84 million set in 2019. Among the attendees, 122,000 were foreign visitors -- significantly higher than the 85,000 recorded the previous year.

The annual winter festival has previously made headlines worldwide, with thousands of tourists trying to fish for sancheoneo through holes cut into the surface of a vast frozen river and taking part in bare-hand fishing, sledding, ice soccer and other events.

The fishing grounds will also be open at night and there will be foreigner-only fishing and resting areas.

Organizers say catching sancheoneo with bare hands is an event that can only be experienced in Hwacheon.

Other hands-on activities that allow visitors to fully enjoy the snow and ice this year will include sledding on a 40-meter slope and on a 60-meter section of a frozen river, riding a family-friendly "ice bobsleigh" made by the Hwacheon County Office down a spiral-shaped tube, curling and figure skating.

The Seohwasan Multipurpose Indoor Plaza, another key venue of the festival, will feature a miniature version of the Harbin Ice and Snow World, a world-renowned ice and snow festival, while about 30 ice lantern makers from Harbin will showcase the pinnacle of ice art at the Indoor Ice Sculpture Plaza.

The dazzling snow sculptures around the Eolgomi Castle will be reminiscent of the large-scale sculptures at the Sapporo Snow Festival in Japan. The castle will also feature the Santa Post Office, a direct replica of the Santa Post Office in Santa Claus Village, Finland.

The night festival held every weekend on Seondeung Street, which features a large display of handcrafted sancheoneo lanterns and LED lights, will be inspired by the Winter Carnival held in Quebec, Canada.

(END)