Hwacheon ice fishing festival wraps up, setting new attendance record

HWACHEON, South Korea, Feb. 2 (Yonhap) -- The 2025 Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festival, one of South Korea's most popular winter events, ended with a record-breaking turnout, the event's organizers said Sunday.

Marking its 20th anniversary, the festival ran from Jan. 11 in Hwacheon, a remote mountain town in Gangwon Province, located 25 kilometers south of the inter-Korean border and about 90km northeast of Seoul.

This 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 last year.

Since its debut in 2003, the festival has consistently attracted more than 1 million visitors almost every year, earning global recognition. This year's edition reached the 1 million milestone a day earlier than in 2024.

jaeyeon.woo@yna.co.kr
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