This photo, shared on Saturday, shows visitors to the annual Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festival in Hwacheon, Gangwon Province. (Hwacheon County government office)

A popular annual ice fishing festival taking place in the northeastern county of Hwacheon has topped 1 million visitors, organizers said Sunday.

The 2024 Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festival had about 138,000 visitors on Saturday and reached 1.02 million in total visitors through 15 days, the event's organizers said. They also estimated that 39,000 of those visitors had come from overseas.

Sancheoneo is a species of trout known to live only in very clean fresh water.

The festival kicked off Jan. 6 for a 23-day run in Hwacheon, a mountain town in Gangwon Province sitting just 25 kilometers south of the inter-Korean border and about 90 km northeast of Seoul.

It began in 2003 and topped 1 million visitors for the first time in 2006. This is the 15th year in which the event has drawn over 1 million people.

The 2020 festival was interrupted by unseasonably high temperatures and heavy downpours. The next two editions were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but Hwacheon, a town of just 24,000, drew 1.31 million visitors last year in the global event's return.

The Hwacheon festival has been making headlines worldwide, with thousands of tourists trying to catch the trout through holes cut into the surface of a vast frozen river and taking part in barehand fishing, sledding, ice football and other events.

In 2011, CNN listed the festival as one of the world's seven wonders of winter. Earlier this month, The New York Times called the Hwacheon event one of five "must-see festivals in Asia" this winter.

Adding other entertainment options to the main feature of trout fishing has paid dividends for Hwacheon. After catching fish, visitors can stay back to enjoy sledding on snow or ice, try on bubble suits, visit science-related booths and check out interactive global winter culture programs.

International features for this year's festival include the indoor ice sculpture square, built with the help of experts from Harbin, China, and park golf with players from Finland dressed as Santa Claus.

As a fierce battlefield during the 1950-53 Korean War, Hwacheon is regarded as a symbol of national security and peace.

County officials say the Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festival has evolved into a strong backbone of the county's economy, generating direct economic effects of over 100 billion won ($74.9 million) annually. Local restaurants, hotels, and makers of various facilities and souvenirs all benefit from the popular festival.

Since 2006, the event's organizers have been returning half of the admissions in the form of gift cards to visitors. They can use those vouchers to buy local produce, which in turn helps Hwacheon farmers during the slow winter season.

With already more than 1 million visitors this year, local farmers will likely earn over 1 billion won from the festival. (Yonhap)