The story
Seoul Lantern Festival in Seoul
Seoul's signature winter lantern display, launched in 2009 along the restored Cheonggyecheon stream in the city center. Illuminated lantern sculptures depicting folk motifs, historical scenes, and pop-culture themes line a walkable stretch of the waterway and surrounding plazas, drawing millions of visitors each year during a run that has shifted in recent editions from November toward December.
Seoul Lantern Festival was created in 2009 to mark Visit Korea Year, staged along the recently restored Cheonggyecheon stream running through the heart of downtown Seoul, a waterway that itself had only been uncovered and rebuilt a few years earlier after decades buried beneath an elevated highway.