Number of visitors to Hwacheon ice fishing festival tops 1 mln mark

▲ This photo, provided by the office of Hwacheon County on Jan. 24, 2026, shows visitors to the 2026 Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festival, a world-famous annual ice fishing festival in Hwacheon, a remote mountain town in Gangwon Province. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

▲ This photo, provided by the office of Hwacheon County on Jan. 24, 2026, shows a foreign visitor to the 2026 Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festival, a world-famous annual ice fishing festival in Hwacheon, a remote mountain town in Gangwon Province. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

ice fishing fest-visitors

Number of visitors to Hwacheon ice fishing festival tops 1 mln mark

HWACHEON, South Korea, Jan. 24 (Yonhap) -- The cumulative number of visitors to a world-famous annual ice fishing festival in Hwacheon, a remote mountain town in Gangwon Province, has exceeded the 1 million mark, according to the event's organizers Saturday.

A total of 945,908 people had participated in the 2026 Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festival as of Friday since the fest kicked off on Jan. 10, according to the office of Hwacheon County and Foundation Corporation NARA.

As more than 100,000 visitors are presumed to have come to the festival this weekend, the cumulative number of visitors exceeded the 1 million mark just two weeks after its opening.

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.

Since its debut in 2003, the Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festival has consistently attracted more than 1 million visitors almost every year, earning global recognition.

The festival has transformed Hwacheon, a town with a population of just 23,000, into a renowned winter destination in South Korea.

This year's festival has been evaluated as a success as even with poor weather conditions, the event's organizers prioritized safety, earning the trust of visitors.

To ensure safety, organizers restricted the number of visitors to the fishing area and widened space between fishing holes during the first week of opening after divers assessed the ice formation and thickness beneath the surface were different from usual.

The 2026 ice fishing festival comprised various cultural programs beyond the main program of sancheoneo fishing, permitting visitors to enjoy the fest in a more diverse manner.

Hands-on activities that allow visitors to fully enjoy the snow and ice this year included 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, featured 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, China, showcased the pinnacle of ice art at the Indoor Ice Sculpture Plaza.

The dazzling snow sculptures around the Eolgomi Castle are reminiscent of the large-scale sculptures at the Sapporo Snow Festival in Japan. The castle also features 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, were inspired by the Winter Carnival held in Quebec, Canada.

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