The 2025 Sejong Hangeul Festival, hosted by Sejong City and organised by the Sejong Culture and Tourism Foundation, concluded successfully, attracting a total of 310,000 visitors over three days. Under the slogan “Sejong, Embracing Hangeul,” the festival featured a diverse array of 87 programmes blending Hangeul, science, music, and culinary experiences.
Previous years featured a format closer to a general local festival. This year, the organisers focused on reinforcing the festival’s identity as a Hangeul-specific event, featuring a wide variety of Hangeul-related programmes. Citizen participation was also a main pillar, as performances and exhibitions were largely driven by local grassroots communities.
The centerpiece of the festival was its Hangeul programmes, which moved beyond mere linguistic purposes to focus on the script’s artistic and aesthetic features. Reflecting Sejong City’s high birthrate and its large number of families, the programmes successfully captured the interest of local children and teenagers by presenting Hangeul activities combined with science, play, and physical activities. This innovative approach received acclaim, signifying a new challenge in line with the Hallyu (Korean Wave) trend, and successfully attracting inbound foreign tourism.
Addressing recent global trends, the festival rolled out programmes targeting immigrants and introduced eco-friendly features. Significantly, the scope of participation, which was previously limited to Korean-background residents, was expanded to include foreign nationals, multicultural families, and even non-human agents. These shifts reflect the recent demographic changes in South Korea. The festival encouraged foreign residents to participate in regional culture through events such as the (Sejong Hangeul Competition) and the (Korean Spelling Bee for Foreigners). Furthermore, global culture booths featuring Sejong City’s sister cities (Sofia, Bulgaria, and Split, Croatia) were launched to promote Hangeul outside of Korea. Visitors experienced exotic cultures and learned about Sejong Hakdang (Korean as a Second Language centres) in those cities, thereby establishing a bond between the cities.
In line with Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) trends, the Sejong Hangeul Festival also made an effort toward carbon neutrality. It became the first local event in the region to fully implement the use of reusable containers to curb the use of disposable products. The city supported reusable cups and 10 types of food containers for food trucks, and operated four return booths to assist citizens. Consumers could return their plates and tableware to any nearby return booths, meeting both zero-waste and consumer convenience.
Consequently, a total of 115,540 reusable items (50,050 food containers, 19,050 reusable cups, and 45,900 sets of cutleries) were used during the festival, which resulted in a reduction of approximately 13.6 tons of greenhouse gases.
Mayor Choi Min-ho commented, “This year’s Hangeul Proclamation Day marked the first year of Sejong as a ‘Hangeul Cultural City,’ making a full-fledged leap connecting to the future. We will continue to firmly establish our local cultural identity as a city that succeeds the spirit of King Sejong the Great.”
