Korea Events Calendar
Korea events calendar lists festivals, exhibitions, seasonal highlights and traditional customs month by month, with ticketing dates, hours and map links. Don’t miss all of the amazing things you can do in Korea.
New this month
Daesol (대설) – Major Snow
Full guide
The 24 Korean Seasons: A Guide To the Jeolgi Calendar
Starting around December 7, this period marks the middle of winter. Farming slows down, and the grains harvested during the fall are now stored in granaries, ensuring that there’s no need to worry about food for the time being.
Dongji (동지) – Winter Solstice
Full guide
How To Celebrate The Winter Solstice In Korea
The winter solstice is celebrated on the day of the year with the shortest daylight hours and the longest night and it usually falls on or around December 22nd each year. From Dongji, the days start to get longer leading up to spring which is often seen as the new year in many places as that’s when things start to bloom, babies are born and all of the new things of the year pop up, out and whichever other way. This was also the day when, historically, the kings of Korea would hand out the calendar for the upcoming year.
In the past, families gathered to perform the ancestral rites before eating their patjuk (팥죽) and placed a bowl of the dark lumpy dish in each room of the house to ward off evil spirits. While most families don’t do this anymore, many people still follow the custom of eating a big heaping bowl of patjuk, or red bean porridge, to mark the coming of the new year.
Still going on / more dates
‘3rd Poem: Es Devlin, Come Home Again’
📍 Futura Seoul, 61, Bukchon-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul · 서울 종로구 북촌로 61 (가회동) 푸투라 서울
Across performance, visual art, architecture, literature and technology, Es Devlin’s first solo exhibition in Korea oversees 30 years of the English artist’s practice. A strong believer in a ‘temporary society’ built by transient audiences, Devlin places emphasis on the moment when individual perception expands into a collective experience. The exhibition’s large-scale installation invites visitors to engage in acts of participatory drawing, literature and audio. The artist harnesses multitudes of mirrors to refract natural and artificial light, illuminating the possibility of new encounters in the presence of others.
Do Ho Suh
📍 MMCA Seoul, 30 Samcheong-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul · 서울 종로구 삼청로 30 국립현대미술관 서울
Korean-born Do Ho Suh returns to his birth city in MMCA Seoul’s major retrospective, exploring concepts of identity, memory and the enigma of belonging. The exhibition features key early works, notable projects and the debut of new pieces. Large-scale installations remain the cornerstone of Suh’s artistic prowess and take precedence in the exhibition. Through his notable use of polyester fabric and stainless steel, Suh constructs neon translucent structures – doorways, rooftops, rooms and connecting hallways that actively interrogate the meaning of inhabiting a space.
Lee Bae: ‘En attendant’
📍 Museum SAN, 260 Oak Valley 2-gil, Jijeong-myeon, Wonju-si, Gangwon-do · 강원 원주시 지정면 오크밸리2길 260 뮤지엄산
For those seeking an immersive cultural experience beyond Seoul, Museum SAN in the Wonju mountains, presents Lee Bae’s solo exhibition 'En attendant'. Drawing on the museum’s dedication to nature, art and space, the artist’s new show meditates on the act of waiting and healing. Charcoal, and its fire-induced metamorphosis from wood, becomes a central point in the exhibition. Throughout the grand scale of the museum’s interior and outdoor spaces, sculptural architecture, video installations and Bae’s signature painterly works comprise a full spectrum of artistic creation in sweeping constructions of black, white and earth tones.
Sol LeWitt: ‘Open Structure’
📍 Amorepacific Museum of Art · 서울 용산구 한강대로 100 아모레퍼시픽미술관
The Amorepacific Museum of Art presents Sol LeWitt’s posthumous 'Open Structure', the artist’s first large-scale exhibition in Korea. Spanning the entirety of the artist’s career, 'Open Structure' champions LeWitt’s belief that artistic work reaches new ambitions within the structure of an exhibition space. From his early works spotlighting black-and-white structures to his expansion into colour and the investigation of archival materials, the exhibition invites viewers to enter conversation with LeWitt’s principles of authorship, instruction and sequence.
Sungnyemun Guard Ceremony (숭례문 파수의식)
📍 40 Sejong-daero, Jung District, Seoul · 서울 중구 세종대로 40
Opening ceremony:
Period All year round (Except Monday)
Time 10:00~10:10
Venue Sungnyemun Gate
Details Opening ceremony of Sungnyemun Gate by guards
Guard Ceremony:
Period All year round (Except Monday)
Time 10:00~15:30 (※13:00~14:00 break)
Venue Sungnyemun Gate
Details Ceremony to guard Sungnyemun Gate
Closing Ceremony:
Period All year round (Except Monday)
Time 15:30 ~ 15:40
Venue Sungnyemun Gate
Details Closing ceremony of Sungnyemun Gate by guards