Will 1.53 Million Visitors Still Come Even If Bare-Handed Mountain Trout Catching Disappears?

Sancheoneo Festival Reborn as Global Festival with 1.53 Million Visitors
Hwacheon Gains Attention as National Representative Tourism Content
Animal Protection Groups Continue Opposition Over Animal Abuse
Demand to Remove Bare-Hand Catching and Switch to Eco-Friendly Practices

Foreign family visiting the 2024 Hwacheon Sancheoneo Festival
[Photo by Hwacheon-gun]

The 2024 Ice Country Hwacheon Sancheoneo Festival, held from the 6th to the 28th, has attracted over 1.5 million visitors. According to provisional counts, the total reached 1,501,000, including about 80,000 foreign tourists. While the festival features many programs, its symbol is the hands-on experience of catching Sancheoneo fish with bare hands.

The sight of numerous participants breaking the ice and catching hundreds of thousands of Sancheoneo fish is a trademark of the festival and a major tourist attraction drawing visitors from home and abroad.

2024 Hwacheon Sancheoneo Festival Site
[Photo by Hwacheon-gun]

However, animal protection groups and civic organizations view this as animal cruelty. On the 6th, 39 civic organizations nationwide held one-person protests at various locations during the festival's opening ceremony to inform citizens about the festival's issues. They also gathered at the main gate of Hwacheon County Office to condemn the festival's animal abuse programs and demand a transition to an ecological festival. These 39 civic organizations stated that for the past three years, they have repeatedly requested Hwacheon County to ethically treat fish that feel pain, but "Hwacheon County has consistently responded with silence, arrogance, and no changes."

Civil society organizations held a press conference opposing the Hwacheon Sancheoneo Festival on January 6. [Photo by Animal Rights Group KARA]

Animal protection groups and civic organizations have long criticized the Sancheoneo Festival held in Hwacheon. Jang Hee-ji, an activist from Animal Liberation Wave, revealed the conditions Sancheoneo fish endure during the festival, saying, "Dozens of Sancheoneo fish trapped under the ice within fenced boundaries are starved and randomly pierced anywhere on their bodies by sharp fishing hooks, lifted roughly, and thrown around for human amusement." She added, "Hands-on experiences such as ice fishing and bare-hand catching, which have become symbols of the Sancheoneo Festival, are severely abusive to the fish." Earlier, in 2020, the Save Sancheoneo Movement Headquarters filed a complaint against Hwacheon County Governor Choi Moon-soon and the Nara Foundation for violating the Animal Protection Act, but the prosecution dismissed the case, citing that the Sancheoneo fish are used for 'consumption' during the festival.

The 39 civic organizations demanded that Hwacheon County ▲immediately stop the bare-hand catching program ▲cease using live feed in Sancheoneo farming ▲stop giving Sancheoneo as prizes ▲gradually reduce the ice fishing program ▲strengthen ecological and animal-friendly programs for all age groups ▲restore the Hwacheoncheon ecosystem ▲and establish animal welfare guidelines for Sancheoneo fish used in the festival.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.