GANGWON-DO < invest Korea

According to Yonhap News,

An annual ice fishing festival began its nearly monthlong run in the northeastern county of Hwacheon on Saturday, drawing more than 100,000 visitors from here and around the world as people came to enjoy the fun winter fest.

The 2024 Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festival kicked off in the remote mountain town in Gangwon Province, located just 25 kilometers south of the inter-Korean border and about 90 km northeast of Seoul.

The organizers said they received some 101,000 visitors on the first day of the 23-day event set to run through Jan. 28.

As early as before 9 a.m., the frozen Hwacheon stream was already crowded with hundreds of visitors, clad in thick winter jumpers, gathered to catch the sancheoneo, a species of trout known to live only in very clean fresh water.

The visitors carefully placed the rod in the ice hole, with some of them soon erupting in cheers as they pulled the rod that caught the trout out.

"I came with my parents, as it's not so cold for winter," said Kim Min-seok, 35, from Seoul. "It is a thrill to catch a sancheoneo the size of my arm."

Outdoor grilling areas were set up nearby for tourists to barbecue the fish, and some other diners offered to cut and plate for customers if they brought their own trout.

The foreigners-only fishing site added to the festive mood, with many of them taking part in an activity where they have to go into the cold water to catch fish with their bare hands.

Family visitors went for sledding or other winter rides, while hundreds of others took to browsing ice sculptures inside an exhibition hall.

The Hwacheon festival has attracted more than 1 million visitors almost every year since its launch in 2003, making headlines worldwide with thousands of tourists trying to catch the trout 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 festival turned Hwacheon, with a population of just 24,000, into a global wintertime festival city of South Korea.

In 2011, a leading global news organization introduced the festival as one of the world's seven wonders of winter.

It had to close in 2021 and 2022 over the COVID-19 pandemic, but it managed to restore its name by registering over 1.3 million visitors at last year's event.

Organizers said they plan to release 160 tons of sancheoneo into the frozen river covering 61,654 square meters during this year's festival. They will also operate foreigner-only fishing and resting areas, expecting about 100,000 foreign tourists this year.

As a fierce battlefield during the 1950-53 Korean War, Hwacheon is also considered a symbol of national security and peace.

County officials say the Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festival has now grown into a strong backbone of the county's economy, generating direct economic effects of over 100 billion won (US$76.5 million) annually. Local restaurants, hotels and makers of various facilities and souvenirs are also its beneficiaries.

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Source: Yonhap News (January 6, 2024)