A world-famous annual ice fishing festival kicked off Saturday in a remote mountain town in the northeastern province of Gangwon, offering weeks of ice fishing and seasonal activities. 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. Visitors from all over the nation arrived at the 300,000-square-meter festival ground — roughly the size of around 40 football pitches — from early morning. "(We) will do our best to ensure safety and so that the Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festival can become a winter festival enjoyed by everyone around the world beyond the Republic of Korea," Hwacheon Gov. Choi Moon-soon said at the opening ceremony. 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