GANGWON-DO < invest Korea

According to Yonhap News,

(HWACHEON=Yonhap News) A world-famous ice fishing festival will open in Hwacheon this weekend to animate the economy of this remote mountainous town in Gangwon Province, organizers said Monday.

The annual Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festival will kick off Saturday on a frozen river in the town, about 120 kilometers northeast of Seoul, for a run ending Jan. 28. The event will feature a wide variety of winter activities.

More than one million people are expected to flock to the town to drop a fishing line through a hole in the ice and catch "sancheoneo" -- a species of trout known to live only in very clean fresh water. The festival's signature program can be enjoyed day and night.

Braving freezing temperatures, visitors clad in T-shirts and shorts can jump into the icy water to catch fish with their bare hands. Festivalgoers can engage in dozens of other activities, as well.

After being launched in the town of 27,000 people in 2003, the festival will mark its 15th edition this year. The government has recently designated it as South Korea's most representative festival for the fifth consecutive year, while CNN once touted it as one of the "Seven Wonders of Winter."

The annual festival has attracted more than one million tourists, including foreign visitors, for 11 years running, putting it in the ranks of the world's four most famous winter festivals, alongside Japan's Sapporo Snow Festival, China's Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival and Canada's Quebec Winter Carnival.

County chief Choi Moon-soon said it is putting the finishing touches to the upcoming festival. "We are making preparations for the event (to go off) without a hitch to help domestic and foreign visitors to enjoy it safely and conveniently," he said. "We will do our best to enable them to make unforgettable winter memories in this clean town."



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