A tourist holds a sancheoneo (mountain trout) at the bare-handed event of the ’2024 Sancheoneo Festival’. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
HWACHEON, Jan. 13 (Korea Bizwire) –Amid the recent opening of the Sancheoneo Ice Festival in Hwacheon County, several national civic organizations, including vegetarian groups, have condemned the event, accusing organizers and participants of animal cruelty.
On January 12, representatives from the Korean Vegetarian Union and other groups gathered in Gwanghwamun Square, Seoul, for a press conference titled ‘Stop Animal Abuse at Sancheoneo Festival, Advocate for Vegetarianism.’
Participants, wearing white masks and hats shaped like sancheoneo (a type of trout), acted out fishing scenes, arguing that festivals like the Sancheoneo Ice Festival, as well as other trout and salmon festivals, which treat animals as objects of entertainment and inflict unnecessary pain and stress leading to their death, should be banned.
The groups claim that Hwacheon County should abolish the Sancheoneo Ice Festival, which they allege involves animal cruelty. They also called for a nationwide shift from meat consumption to vegetarianism.
Sancheoneo being moved to a temporary storage facility in Hwacheon ahead of the Sancheoneo Festival event. (Image courtesy of Hwacheon County)
On January 7, 39 civic groups, including the Animal Liberation Wave and the Korean Federation for Environmental Movements, held a press conference in front of the Hwacheon County Office, condemning the festival’s programs.
These groups have repeatedly urged Hwacheon County to treat fish ethically, but claim their requests have been met with no response or changes.
Shin Eun-sung, an activist from the Dawn Sanctuary civic group, stated, “The Sancheoneo Festival in Hwacheon has been sustained through the abuse, confinement, and exploitation of non-human animals. This is no different from trapping and slaughtering sancheoneo in one place.”
The activists argue that the entire festival, including bare-hand fishing, ice fishing, transporting sancheoneo, and feeding constitutes animal cruelty and essentially demand the festival’s abolition.
Hwacheon County officials and residents are concerned about the protests. Since its inception in 2003, the Sancheoneo Festival has become a local attraction, drawing over one million tourists annually since 2006.
For Hwacheon, classified as a population-declining area in Gangwon Province, it is not easy to comply with outsiders’ demands to abolish one of its few tourist attractions without clear alternatives.
Meanwhile, these civic groups are conducting a ’10,000 Signatures’ campaign to voice opposition to the Sancheoneo Ice Festival. After starting the petition at the end of December, they had gathered 876 signatures, about 8.7% of their target, as of January 7.
Lina Jang (linajang@koreabizwire.com)
