Nungnungi pop-up at Juwangsan National Park's shop — 23 Oct–15 Nov, preview 16–18 Oct

The Juwangsan National Park Office of the Korea National Park Service (KNPS) is turning the National Park Shop inside the Sangui Visitor Centre into a pop-up for the young company Nungnungi for the autumn foliage season. The main run is 23 October (Fri) to 15 November (Sun) 2026, daily 9:00–18:00, preceded by a preview on 16–18 October. KNPS posted the release on its press board on 8 October with a press date of 12 October. For visitors it adds one more stop at the end of a foliage walk; for the company it is a chance to sell directly to the public inside a national park.

The National Park Shop is KNPS's own outlet for park character goods, and the one inside Juwangsan's Sangui Visitor Centre ran a month-long pop-up last autumn too (October 2025, built around the parks' own characters). This year the format changes to a collaboration with an outside brand. The release's attached photographs are dated 23 and 25 September, so the shop was dressed a fortnight before the announcement.

When is it open, and until what time

There are two periods. KNPS fixed opening hours only for the main run from 23 October; the 16–18 October preview comes with dates and nothing more. What the shop does between the two, on 19–22 October, is not in the release.

What is on sale

Two ranges share the shop: the Nungnungi character goods and merchandise that the pop-up is about, and the national-park character range the shop always carries. KNPS has published neither a product list nor prices. What the attached photographs show are keyrings and badges printed with snowman, tree and Asiatic black bear illustrations, fabric pieces lettered HAPPY and MOUNTAIN, canvas prints and plush toys; what is actually on the shelves, and at what price, you find out on the day.

KNPS frames this as more than retail, for two reasons. For visitors it adds a character-content layer to a park visit that otherwise ends with looking and walking; for the young company it is a place to meet customers in person and sell while promoting the brand. The park office's facilities manager, Kim Gi-chang, said the office intends to keep collaborating with young companies so the National Park Shop becomes a space that gives visitors a new experience, not only a sales counter.

What is the Juwanggyegok foliage trail that starts at the door

The Sangui Visitor Centre sits in the Sangui zone where Juwangsan's signature Juwanggyegok (Juwang Valley) course begins. From the Sangui car park it is 15 minutes on foot to Daejeonsa temple; from the trail entrance above the temple, past Jahagyo bridge and the Giam rock pinnacle to Yongchu Falls, KNPS's course guide gives about 2.7 km and 1 hour 15 minutes. It is a flat earth path that KNPS says pushchairs and wheelchairs manage without trouble. The same stretch was on KNPS's list of seven "premium autumn park trails" last year, where it was described as about an hour.

Beyond Yongchu Falls the path continues past Jeolgu and Yongyeon Falls to the old Naewon-dong village site, another 2.6 km (55 minutes). That section mixes stone path and timber-deck bridges, so pushchairs stop at Yongchu, but trainers are enough. The full round trip is 10.6 km and about 4 hours 20 minutes, so count back from the shop's 18:00 close and from sunset. KNPS puts the course's best foliage at mid-October to early November, which overlaps the first half of the pop-up's main run.

When to go for peak colour

The 2026 foliage map published on 8 October by the Korea Tourism Organization and the Korea National Arboretum expects the Seoul region and Gangwon to peak in late October and the Gyeongsang and Jeolla regions in early to mid-November. KNPS's own course guide puts Juwanggyegok's best window at mid-October to early November. Where the two overlap — the last days of October and the first week of November — is the safest bet for seeing the pop-up and the colour on one trip. There is no Juwangsan-specific peak forecast, so check the park's news page on the KNPS site (Korean) just before you leave.

The same visitor centre is also showing, free of charge from 1 October to the end of the year, a translated copy of the Juwangsan Annaegi, a Japanese-language guidebook to the mountain printed in 1939 by the Juwangsan Historic Sites Preservation Society. The original is held by the National Museum of Korea; the park office translated it and framed the reproductions. The captions are in Korean, but the 87-year-old maps and drawings read without them, and comparing them with the view outside is the point.

Getting there and parking

• By bus, per KNPS: from Seoul, Dong Seoul Terminal (동서울터미널, Andong / Juwangsan direction) → Cheongsong Terminal → Juwangsan Terminal → Sangui Visitor Centre, about 4 h 50 min; from Daegu, Dongdaegu Transfer Centre (Cheongsong direction), about 2 h 30 min; from Busan, Busan Dongbu Terminal via Yeongcheon and Cheongsong, about 3 h 30 min.
• By car: set the satnav to the Sangui car park (주왕산 상의주차장) or the Juwangsan visitor centre, 146 Gongwon-gil. The car park has 455 spaces (40 coach, 415 car) and charges a fee.
• At the visitor centre: a left-luggage service and free phone charging, and — per the KNPS facilities listing — a Monday closure (+82-54-873-0231).
• The Juwangsan office published a 2026 trail-reservation notice on 18 September. The Juwanggyegok course is not affected, but if you plan another route, check the notice (Korean) to see whether it needs a reservation.

In short: the Nungnungi pop-up runs 23 October to 15 November, daily 9:00 to 18:00, in the National Park Shop at Juwangsan's Sangui Visitor Centre, with early opening on 16–18 October. No booking, no admission fee, so the natural plan is to walk the Juwang Valley trail in colour and call in on the way back down. Add Jusanji reservoir's willows and the Jeolgol valley and it becomes a full day in Cheongsong.

What a visitor who reads no Korean should expect on the day

The route in is the hard part, not the shop. The intercity buses from Dong Seoul or Dongdaegu to Cheongsong and on to Juwangsan Terminal are run in Korean, with tickets from the terminal counter or ticket machines; have the destination written down (주왕산) and allow for a change at Cheongsong. From Juwangsan Terminal the Sangui car park and visitor centre are a short walk along the park approach road, and the trail signs from there use English place names (Daejeonsa, Yongchu Falls). Inside the shop nothing is signed in English: labels and prices are Korean, staff speak Korean, and there is no booking, membership or phone-number step at all — you pick what you want and pay in won. The release does not say whether foreign cards are taken, so bring cash. The 1939 guidebook exhibition in the same building has Korean captions only. If you need to call ahead about the Monday question, the numbers are Korean-speaking; asking your accommodation to ring is the practical route.