Can I still join the opening walk?

No. Applications closed on 20 September 2026 and the cap was five hundred people. The ceremony and walk still take place on 1 October, and the coastal path itself is public — you can walk the same stretch without being registered.

What can I take part in without booking?

Most of the week. The stamp challenge through the Durunubi app, the coffee reward for completing designated sections on 3 to 5 and 9 to 11 October, the online guessing game, and the rest-stop events around the country all run without any application.

How far is the opening walk?

About 3 km, from Dalsanpo beach to Mongsanpo, along the last part of Seohaerang-gil course 65. The full course is 15.3 km and rated easy — flat coastal walking rather than anything technical.

What are the Korea Dulle-gil and the East–West Trail?

The first is a roughly 4,500 km waymarked loop following Korea's coast and northern border, completed in 2024. The second is an 850 km forest route crossing the country from Taean on the west coast to Uljin on the east, due to be finished in late 2027.

Is Taeanhaean National Park different from the others?

Yes, in one useful respect: it is the only one of the twenty-four parks exempt from the designated entry-time system that governs when you may start and finish a walk. Coastal walking there is correspondingly simpler to plan.

Event·Korea National Park ServiceEnded

Korea's walking week, 1 to 11 October, and the two long trails behind it

Kang Shin-wookPublished 22 September 2026Updated 21 September 20265 sources checkedEditorial policy 이 글을 한국어로 읽기

Seohaerang-gil course 65

The essentials

Dates: Walking week 1 – 11 October 2026; opening ceremony 1 October, 3:00pm (Ended)
Where: Taean Marine Healing Center, Dalsanpo beach, Taeanhaean National Park, Chungnam — walking to Mongsanpo beach, about 3 km
Admission: Not stated for the walk itself — neither the ministry release nor the trail notice gives a price. The optional wellness session is KRW 10,000, reduced from KRW 24,000
Booking: Applications for the opening walk closed on 20 September, capped at 500. The other walking-week programmes need no booking
Who it is for: Anyone
Language: The Durunubi app and site are in Korean and the app's route-following feature is what the week's stamp challenge runs on. The trails themselves are waymarked, and the coastal sections are straightforward to walk without any Korean.
Run by: Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Korea Tourism Organization and the Korea Forest Service
Korea Dulle-gil: About 4,500 km, a loop around the coast and border, completed in 2024
East–West Trail: About 850 km from Taean to Uljin, due for completion in late 2027
App: Durunubi, used for the route-following and stamp features

Written up from Korea National Park Service's own announcement of 9 September 2026. Details change — check the official page before you travel.

This event has ended. The institution's visiting guide is still current. Visiting guide · What's on

Korea Walking Week runs from 1 to 11 October 2026, opening with a ceremony and a 3 km coastal walk at Taeanhaean National Park. The registered walk itself closed to applications on 20 September, but the week's other programmes — a stamp challenge on the Durunubi app, free coffee for completing set sections on six days, and rest-stop events around the country — need no booking at all.

In short

Korea Walking Week runs 1 to 11 October 2026, opening at Taeanhaean National Park with a ceremony and a 3 km walk along the coast.
Applications for that opening walk closed on 20 September with a cap of 500 people, so it is now a spectator event rather than one to join.
The rest of the week needs no booking: a stamp challenge through the Durunubi app, free coffee for completing set sections on six of the days, and rest-stop events around the country.
The point of the week is two long-distance trails: the 4,500 km Korea Dulle-gil loop and the 850 km East–West Trail, which meet at Taean.

Pine woods and the sea along the Taean coast in Chungcheongnam-do, where section 2 of the Dongseo Trail runs. — The Taean coast where the opening walk is held (Dongseo Trail section 2). This is where the Korea Dullegil's Seohaerang-gil and the Korea Forest Service's Dongseo Trail meet. Photo: Korea Forest Service, Sunnadeul-e

Korea has quietly built two of the longer waymarked walking routes in Asia, and most visitors have never heard of either. Korea Walking Week exists to change that, and for ten days in October it concentrates events along them. The opening is at Taean, on the west coast, which is where the two trails meet.

What is still open to join

The registered opening walk is full — applications closed on 20 September at a cap of five hundred. What runs without any application is the rest of the week, and for a visitor those parts are actually the more usable ones.

The recruitment poster for the 2026 Korea Dullegil and Dongseo Trail walking week opening ceremony, giving the application window and a 500-person limit. — The recruitment poster for the opening walk: applications 9–20 September, first 500 people. Photo: Korea Tourism Organization, Durunubi · KOGL Type 1 · Original

A stamp challenge: walk any section using the Durunubi app's route-following feature and your record enters a prize draw.
Walk and have a coffee: complete designated sections on 3 to 5 October or 9 to 11 October and a nearby café provides a coffee.
An online guessing game using AI-generated images of the trails' best-known sections.
Rest-stop events around the country, including at Oryukdo in Busan, Haeparang in Ulsan and Goseong in Gyeongnam.

The official notice image setting out how to take part in the opening ceremony and what to be aware of. — The official guidance on taking part. It recommends installing the Durunubi app beforehand and dressing comfortably. Photo: Korea Tourism Organization, Durunubi · KOGL Type 1 · Original

The official notice image listing the order of events on the day and what participants receive. — The programme and benefits for the day: a completion medal, a souvenir and an optional wellness session. Photo: Korea Tourism Organization, Durunubi · KOGL Type 1 · Original

The 3 km stretch, and the course it belongs to

The opening walk covers the last few kilometres of Seohaerang-gil course 65, from Dalsanpo beach to Mongsanpo. You do not need to be registered to walk it: it is a public coastal path, and the full course is a flat 15.3 km rated easy, running through pine-backed beaches on the Taean coast.

Seohaerang-gil course 65

The course: Taean-gun, Chungnam. 15.3 km, about five and a half hours, rated easy
Start to finish: Beside the Taean tourist information office at Dangam-ri to Mongsanpo beach
Along the way: Dangam-ri community hall, Cheongpodae beach, Dalsanpo beach, Mongsanpo beach
To count as completed: Pass at least three of the seven checkpoints
What it is like: Wide sand, pine woods behind the dunes, and very little of anything else

The gently shelving sand and pine woods of Cheongpodae beach in Taean. — Cheongpodae beach, on Seohaerang-gil course 65 — a shallow beach running south from Mongsanpo. Photo: Korea Tourism Organization, VisitKorea · KOGL Type 1

Jarabawi rock and a sculpture of the turtle from the Byeoljubu tale on the mudflat at Cheongpodae beach. — Jarabawi rock and the Byeoljubu sculpture at Cheongpodae — the emblem of Byeoljubu village, a sightseeing point on course 65. Photo: Korea Tourism Organization, VisitKorea · KOGL Type 1

Why Taean

The two trails

Total length: Korea Dulle-gil about 4,500 km; East–West Trail about 850 km
What they are: A loop following the coast and the border; a long forest route crossing the country from Taean to Uljin
Run by: Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism with the Korea Tourism Organization; the Korea Forest Service
Built: Started 2016, fully open since 2024; started 2023, due for completion in late 2027, with 512 km across 32 sections in trial use in 2026

Taean is where the loop around the edge of the country meets the route that crosses it, which is the reason the ceremony is held there rather than somewhere more central. It is also Taeanhaean National Park — the one national park exempt from the designated entry-time system, and therefore the one where the walking rules are simplest.

The forest path of Dongseo Trail section 4, an earth track running between trees. — Dongseo Trail section 4. The route that starts on the Taean coast carries on inland like this. Photo: Korea Forest Service, Sunnadeul-e

Open fields and sky along the crossing route of the DMZ Peace Trail. — The crossing route of the DMZ Peace Trail, the last of the Korea Dullegil's four routes to open. Photo: Korea Tourism Organization, Durunubi · KOGL Type 1

Walkers on the DMZ Peace Trail, the landscape beyond the wire fence. — The DMZ Peace Trail opened in September 2024, completing all roughly 4,500km of the Korea Dullegil. Photo: Korea Tourism Organization, Durunubi · KOGL Type 1

What the official announcements do not say

Whether the opening walk itself carried a fee is not stated in either the ministry's release or the Durunubi notice, so we do not assert it. The only published price is the optional wellness session. The time and difficulty of the 3 km stretch alone are not published either, so the figures above are for the full course 65.

If you want to walk the coast anyway

The Durunubi app maps every course and has a route-following mode; it is in Korean but the maps are legible without it.
Taeanhaean is the one national park without designated entry times, so coastal walking there is not constrained by a start-time table.
Early October on the west coast is windy — take a layer more than the temperature suggests.
The nearest transport hub is Taean bus terminal; a shuttle to the marine healing centre runs for the ceremony.

Frequently asked questions

Q. Can I still join the opening walk?: No. Applications closed on 20 September 2026 and the cap was five hundred people. The ceremony and walk still take place on 1 October, and the coastal path itself is public — you can walk the same stretch without being registered.
Q. What can I take part in without booking?: Most of the week. The stamp challenge through the Durunubi app, the coffee reward for completing designated sections on 3 to 5 and 9 to 11 October, the online guessing game, and the rest-stop events around the country all run without any application.
Q. How far is the opening walk?: About 3 km, from Dalsanpo beach to Mongsanpo, along the last part of Seohaerang-gil course 65. The full course is 15.3 km and rated easy — flat coastal walking rather than anything technical.
Q. What are the Korea Dulle-gil and the East–West Trail?: The first is a roughly 4,500 km waymarked loop following Korea's coast and northern border, completed in 2024. The second is an 850 km forest route crossing the country from Taean on the west coast to Uljin on the east, due to be finished in late 2027.
Q. Is Taeanhaean National Park different from the others?: Yes, in one useful respect: it is the only one of the twenty-four parks exempt from the designated entry-time system that governs when you may start and finish a walk. Coastal walking there is correspondingly simpler to plan.

Sources

Official notice (Korean)

Written in our own words from the sources above, never copied from them, and every date and price checked against at least two pages. The originals are in Korean. Spotted a mistake? Ask for a correction.