Pohang International Fire & Light Festival, Yeongildae Beach — 19–21 November 2026, free, fireworks on Saturday

Pohang's flagship festival, the Pohang International Fire & Light Festival, returns this year in late autumn rather than early summer. From Thursday 19 to Saturday 21 November 2026 it spreads from Yeongildae Beach to Songdo Pier and Haeoreum Bridge, and on the final night fireworks teams from France and Japan, followed by a Korean grand finale, fire over Yeongil Bay. Pohang City set out the day-by-day programme at a readiness review on 26 October, and the Pohang Cultural Foundation has posted how seat tickets are distributed and where the parade goes. This article lines up those announcements with the Korea Tourism Organization's festival listing (checked 29 October) and says plainly what is still unannounced.

When and where is the 2026 festival, and what is on?

The festival runs Thursday 19 to Saturday 21 November, hosted by Pohang City and organised by the Pohang Cultural Foundation. The poster gives the venue as 'Yeongildae Beach and other sites across Pohang (Haeoreum Bridge, Songdo-dong)', and in practice each day has a different stage. According to the schedule the city presented at its 26 October readiness review, reported by several newspapers, opening night is at Songdo Pier and the final night at Yeongildae Beach. This year's slogan is 'ALL LIGHT ALL GOOD'.

The organiser's entry on VisitKorea lists three main programmes: the international fireworks show (Korea, Japan, France), a media facade, and the Night Carnival (a parade plus a night walk). The heart of the Night Carnival is the light parade, a night-time procession in which teams of Pohang residents — clubs, performance groups, community associations — walk in costumes with lights and props. The foundation called for teams on 14 October and announced the selected groups on 28 October. News1 reported that all 29 of Pohang's neighbourhoods and local organisations take part. The fireworks companies have not been named yet.

What time do the fireworks start, and how do you get a seat?

The time is not official yet. On 29 October the timetable and site-map tabs on the foundation's festival page both read 'in preparation', and the reports that followed the city's 26 October review give dates only. The seating, however, is settled. The foundation's seat-ticket notice says tickets go out from 10:00 on Saturday 21 November at the information desk near the Yeongildae 'Sea City Hall' kiosk, first come, first served, 2,000 tickets, one per person. People aged 65 and over, people with disabilities, pregnant women and children under six can have a companion collect a ticket for them with ID or a certificate. The ticket is for the seated area only: without one you can watch from anywhere on Yeongildae Beach.

Why November this year — and a festival that began as a Citizens' Day fireworks show in 2004

The city explains that the festival was planned for late May but clashed with the 3 June local elections, so it was moved to November. Last year's edition was also pushed to mid-June by early voting in the presidential election, so elections have reset the date two years running. The festival itself, according to the foundation, began in 2004 as a fireworks show for Pohang Citizens' Day. Built on the city's steel identity — 'fire' for the furnaces, 'light' for the city — it grew into an international event with overseas fireworks teams and has since added media facades and night parades that mix industry with culture. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism first designated it a Culture and Tourism Festival for 2020–2021 and again for 2024–2025.

The venue is Yeongildae Beach — which address is right?

The main stage is Yeongildae Beach. Yeongiljeong, the pavilion built out in the water, and the Yeongil Bridge that leads to it are where most fireworks photographs are taken, and this was the main site in 2024 too. The aerial and night photographs below show Yeongildae on ordinary days rather than during a festival, but they are enough to see how the beach, the pavilion and the coastal road sit together.

How does this year differ from 2024 and 2025?

The biggest differences are the season and the visiting teams. In 2024 the UK, China and Australia competed at Yeongildae with a finale by Hanwha; in 2025 Italy and Canada were booked at Hyeongsangang Sports Park, but a heavy-rain advisory on the day cancelled the whole main programme. This year it is France, Japan and a Korean team at Yeongildae in late autumn. The 2024 and 2025 rows below are records of past festivals, not this year's information.

That APEC show on 29 October last year started at 19:30 on a weekday, collided with the evening commute, and by around 18:00 the roads into Yeongildae had stopped moving; the city asked drivers to use the ring roads and shift their departure times, Kyongbuk Maeil reported. During the 2024 festival the city closed the stretch of Haean-ro between the Duho-dong community-centre junction and the Yeongildae clock-tower junction to cars for the whole three days and diverted city bus 9000. Whether the same happens this year has not been announced.

For Pohang residents — the fireworks academy and the light parade

• Fireworks academy (foundation notice, 15 October): 20 Pohang residents aged 19 or over, first come, first served, study for six days from 14 to 19 November (10:00–17:00) — from the basics of pyrotechnics to firing systems and an on-site installation practical — and then help stage the fireworks during the festival. Applications are by Google Form until Sunday 1 November, with the selection announced on 4 November. The KRW 50,000 fee is refunded in full on completion, and graduates receive a seat ticket for the international show, a certificate and festival merchandise. Residents only, in Korean.
• Night Carnival light parade (called on 14 October, extra call on 27 October, teams announced on 28 October): groups, clubs and performance teams made up of Pohang residents walk about 1.5 km from Yeongildae Rose Garden over Haeoreum Bridge to Songdo Pier on Friday 20 November, 19:00–21:00. Teams get KRW 500,000 to 1,000,000 towards costumes and props depending on size, and prizes total KRW 10,000,000, with KRW 1,500,000 for the grand prize. Recruitment is closed; as a visitor, the bridge end of the route on Friday evening is the place to watch.

Tips — traffic, weather, warm clothes

• Traffic and parking: no road closures, temporary car parks or shuttle buses had been announced by 29 October. Both the October 2025 fireworks and the 2024 festival jammed the roads around Yeongildae before and after the show, so arrive early or combine a taxi with city buses rather than relying on a car.
• Seats: fireworks seat tickets go to the first 2,000 people from 10:00 on Saturday 21 November at the information desk near the Yeongildae 'Sea City Hall' kiosk. Without one you can watch from anywhere on the beach, so a mat and a blanket are enough.
• Timetable: the opening-ceremony and fireworks times and the site map were 'in preparation' on the foundation's festival page. Check the timetable tab one or two weeks before.
• Weather: the 2025 festival was cancelled a few hours before its main night under a heavy-rain advisory. Check the foundation's notices and the forecast before you leave.
• Cold: a late-November night on the beach is windy. Bring a thick coat, hand warmers and something to sit on.
• Safety: at its 26 October review with some 30 people from the fire service, police and coast guard, the city said it would step up safety inspections beforehand. Follow the stewards on the night.

In short: this year's festival opens on the 19th with the lighting ceremony at Songdo Pier, crosses Haeoreum Bridge with the light parade on the 20th, and ends on the 21st with the international fireworks over Yeongildae. We will update this page once the times and the traffic plan are published. If you have time to spare before or after, the walkable Space Walk sculpture in Hwanho Park, a short ride from Yeongildae, is lit at night and makes a late-autumn evening in Pohang last longer.

Getting there and what to expect if you do not read Korean

Pohang is on the east coast, about 270 km from Seoul. The fastest way in is the KTX from Seoul Station to Pohang Station (포항역): direct trains take roughly two and a half hours, and more connections run via Dongdaegu. Pohang Station sits on the western edge of the city and Yeongildae Beach on the northern shore, so finish the trip by taxi or city bus; a taxi is the simplest option after dark, and the Kakao T app works with a foreign card. Nothing about this festival is booked online: there is no ticketing site, no form that needs a Korean phone number, and the only thing to collect is the free seat ticket on the morning of the 21st. On the ground expect Korean only — the stage programme, the radio show and the choir on Saturday, the foundation's website and its notices are all Korean, and no English signage or English-language session is listed. The fireworks, the media facade on opening night and the costume parade on the Friday do not need any, and the beach is open to everyone without a ticket. If you want to ask something in English, the foundation's festival team (+82-54-289-7852 to 7856) is the contact, but assume a Korean-speaking line. Allow for the cold: the show is on a beach at the end of November, and the sea wind is sharper than the thermometer suggests.