Lee Hae-rin is a City Desk reporter at The Korea Times, covering social issues, tourism and taekwondo. She is passionate about speaking up for the rights of minorities, including women, LGBTQ+, people with disabilities and animals as well as discovering the latest makgeolli trend in town. Feel free to reach her at lhr@koreatimes.co.kr.
Seoul Lantern Festival extended after drawing record 2.7 mil. visitors
This undated provided photo shows Cheonggye Stream crowded with people during the 2025 Seoul Lantern Festival in Seoul, December 2025. Courtesy of Seoul Tourism Organization
By Lee Hae-rin
The 2025 Seoul Lantern Festival, which has drawn a record 2.77 million visitors in its first 20 days, will be extended by two weeks through Jan. 18 along central Seoul’s Cheonggye and Ui streams, according to the Seoul Tourism Organization.
Held under the theme "My Light, Our Dream, Seoul’s Magic," the annual nighttime event has enjoyed booming popularity among both locals and international tourists with its blend of traditional hanji paper lanterns and immersive media art installation that transform the downtown waterway into a glowing corridor.
Originally scheduled to end Sunday, Jan. 4, the festival will now continue through Jan. 18 between Cheonggye Plaza and Samil Bridge, a 1.1-kilometer stretch in the heart of the city, organizers said. The festival will be closed on Monday for maintenance and rearrangement of installations before reopening the next day.
The extension follows a roughly 60 percent increase in visitors from the previous year. City officials view the festival as a signature winter attraction, part of broader efforts to boost nighttime tourism and to diversify experiences beyond conventional sightseeing.
Only the main Cheonggye Stream section will be extended, while lantern displays along Ui Stream will close as originally planned on Monday. Popular installations such as "I LOVE Magikarp,” created in collaboration with Pokemon Korea, the fire-breathing "Wings of Dreams” and "Hwanwol,” a moon jar sculpture made from discarded car headlights, will also be taken down that day.
In their place, a new large-scale light work titled "Magical Lights Walking Through Seoul" will debut in the extended section.
The festival runs daily from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. It initially closed at 10 p.m., but organizers pushed back the closing time by one hour on Dec. 16 to accommodate growing demand from office workers visiting after work and rising interest in nighttime cultural activities.