Seoul to host first pet culture festival at Oil Tank Culture Park
A promotional poster for the "2026 Seoul Daengnyang Days" / Courtesy of Seoul Metropolitan Government
Seoul will hold its first festival celebrating life with companion animals on Saturday at Oil Tank Culture Park, a former oil depot in western Seoul converted into a cultural space, the city government said Monday.
The festival, 2026 Seoul Daengnyang Days, is subtitled “A Day with Companions.” It is open to both pet owners and non-pet owners. “Daengnyang” is Korean slang combining words for dogs and cats.
The main stage will open with a “dog dance” performance, in which people and dogs move together to music. It will be followed by a fashion show in which owners and their pets, selected through an open call, walk the runway as a team.
Short videos from the Seoul Animal Love 60-Second Film Festival, a citizen contest of one-minute clips about life with animals, will be shown on a large screen. Entertainer HaHa and Kim Na-young will join other singer-songwriters for a concert. At 5 p.m., popera group Victoria will present a concert combining music and film.
From 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., the 2023 Korean film “My Heart Puppy” will be screened outdoors. Beforehand, organizers will show an interview with actor Yoo Yeon-seok, who stars in the film. In it, he talks about adopting Rita, a former abandoned dog.
Indoors, six emerging artists who focus on animals will exhibit their work. Talk sessions will cover living with pets and coping with pet loss. Speakers include veterinarian Seol Chae-hyun.
From 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m., dogs rescued from abandonment and now in foster care will walk a red carpet to meet potential adoptive families.
Free shuttle buses will run from nearby public parking lots.
“Seoul will introduce a range of pet culture policies that carefully address everything from the adoption of abandoned animals to saying goodbye to companion animals,” said Kim Young-hwan, head of the city’s Garden City Bureau.
This article was published with the assistance of generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.