Resumption of Sunset Event After 5 Years, Providing Warm Spaces... Ready to Welcome Tourists
Creating Unified Scenes with Content for Everyone, Delivering Messages of Hope and Coexistence
The Pohang Cultural Foundation is preparing a special New Year's celebration for the upcoming ‘27th Homigot Korean Peninsula Sunrise Festival’ in 2025, the Year of the Eulsa.
Under the slogan “Your and My Light, Coexistence in 2025,” this festival, held from December 31 to January 1, plans to welcome tourists and citizens with even richer programs.
This year, the sunset event will resume after five years. With sunset viewing, a Busking Festival, and MZ generation-tailored content such as Random Play Dance with the 600,000-subscriber YouTuber ‘Nihu,’ the festival aims to attract young tourists.
At the midnight countdown event, a spectacular mini fireworks show will be accompanied by a grand robotics performance featuring a 6-meter-tall robot.
Following this, the festival will culminate in a grand harmony and leap event blending traditional and modern elements, including the local traditional game Wolwolicheongcheong, b-boy performances, and EDM, creating a moment where citizens and tourists unite to mark the end of 2024.
After midnight, for overnight visitors, a ‘Children’s Film Festival’ featuring films produced with the participation of Pohang’s children and screenings of world classic movies will provide a warm and meaningful time.
To prepare for the winter cold wave, convenience facilities for visitors have been greatly enhanced. Warm indoor spaces such as large heating tents and air domes have been set up, equipped with seated tables and heaters so visitors can escape the cold.
Inside the heating tents, various experience programs will be held, and a 200-inch LED screen will broadcast key scenes of the festival in real time.
On New Year’s Day, January 1, a program to energetically start the morning with positive exercises led by YouTuber Jo Geungjeong will further boost the festival’s energy.
Additionally, the moment when everyone shares hopes for the new year will be created through a New Year’s greeting, the announcement of four-character idioms, and the lighting performance of a wish box containing wish slips written by citizens.
Finally, the grand finale welcoming the new year will be marked by the Beomgut performance and tightrope walking show against the backdrop of the Homigot sunrise, offering tourists hope and inspiration for the year ahead.
The festival’s signature program, rice cake soup sharing, will produce and distribute 3,200 servings of rice cake soup meal kits through warm solidarity within the local community.
With the resumption of the sunset event and midnight countdown, a larger crowd is expected this year, so safety management is being prepared more thoroughly. Safety fences will be installed along the coast, and movement routes will be separated to minimize confusion.
At the festival site, about 500 safety personnel, police, firefighters, and emergency responders will be stationed at all times to ensure a safe festival, and an emergency manual has been prepared for immediate response in case of adverse weather.
Mayor Lee Kang-deok said, “The Homigot Sunrise Festival is more than just a New Year’s event; it reinterprets the region’s history and culture with a modern sensibility to deliver a message of new hope and coexistence. As the slogan ‘Your and My Light, Coexistence in 2025’ suggests, we expect it to be a place where Pohang citizens and tourists from across the country unite to prepare for a new beginning.”
Detailed information about the Homigot Korean Peninsula Sunrise Festival can be found on the official website of the Pohang Cultural Foundation.
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