On National Foundation Day, the 2026 Korean Dream Hangang Festival, which aims to entice the public by providing music, performances and citizen participation, spread the message of Korean unification down the banks of the Han River.
The festival was held at Ttukseom Hangang Park in Seoul on Oct. 3 and was themed “From one beginning to one future,” highlighting the common roots and history of two Koreas and their movement towards peace and unification.
This event was organised by the Korean Dream Hangang Festival organising committee under the support of the Seoul Metropolitan Government.
This year, organisers said it was meant to celebrate the birthdate of the Korean people and the country’s history. With its traditional principle of “Hongik Ingan” (which roughly translates to “benefiting all humanity”), the festival aimed to promote unification not just through politics but also through culture and public participation.
It was a continuation of last year’s festival, which was also held at the venue in the context of the celebration of the 80th anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japanese colonisation in 1910-45.
The organiser’s estimate of 30,000 people at the 2025 festival included a huge drone display and choir concerts. The event also encouraged public participation, as some 1,697 citizens donated some 654 million won ($488,700) to support the event.
This year, that participation was extended by a concert that was organised as a musical journey, a four-piece musical journey, which followed the Korean people’s past while telling the stories of war and division, of hope for peace and of the hopes for unification.
The programme was developed around such familiar songs and cultural symbols to communicate a certain idea of unification between different generations. The organisers did not want to discuss the issue only as a matter of diplomacy or security, but rather on the basis of shared experiences and memories: each concert stage was to be a page of Korea’s history and a chapter of its hopes for the future.
Soprano Kim Soon-young, tenor Ahn Se-kwon, North Korean defector singer Jeon Hyang-jin and various vocal and choral groups were joined by the Seoul Grand Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Seo Hoon.
The repertoire unfolded in a chronological fashion, from the festival’s opening, featuring songs of common national heritage, to songs of the suffering of war, separation and division such as “Imjin River,” “Spring in My Hometown” and music from the film “Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War”. The show then focused on reconciliation and peace with performances of “Nella Fantasia,” “Evergreen” and “Arirang Alone.”
Finally, “My Country, My People” and “Our Wish Is Unification” were sung together with the performers, choirs, and the audience, bringing the concert to an end. Large screens showed the lyrics, which encouraged the audience to participate in the festival, emphasising citizen participation.
In addition, a keynote speech was delivered by Global Peace Foundation Chairman Hyunjin Preston Moon, and there were performances by separated families’ choir, ocarina ensemble and taekwondo flash mob.
The event ended with a 10-minute fireworks show entitled “Light of Unification” over the Han River.
The festival aimed to make the notion of unification more accessible to people by merging music with common memories and citizen participation, as well as making it a vision for the future of the country, not just a political issue, organisers said.
