Gyeonggi-do holds '2026 DMZ OPEN Festival' from the 12th to the 29th of next month

(Uijeongbu = Yonhap News) Reporter Noh Seung-hyuk = Gyeonggi Province announced on the 5th that it will hold the '2026 DMZ OPEN Festival' from the 12th to the 29th of next month at Imjingak Pyeonghwa Nuri in Paju and the entire Goyang city.

This year's festival, under the theme of 'Open the Line, Connect the Life', symbolizes opening the Line of the DMZ, a symbol of division and boundary, to connect people, everyday life and the world, and create a new flow of peace.

The main programs are the DMZ OPEN exhibition, which reinterprets the DMZ from an artistic perspective, the DMZ OPEN International Music Festival, and the DMZ OPEN Eco-Peace Forum, which discusses ways for peaceful coexistence with domestic and foreign experts.

The DMZ OPEN exhibition begins on the 12th and will be held at Paju Imjingak Pyeonghwa Nuri and other venues until the 29th of next month.

14 domestic and foreign artists, including Ahn Gyu-cheol, Seonmu, Abigail Raphael Collins, Yoon Su-yeon, Denis Berch, and Yeon Jin-young, will participate and showcase the history, ecology, memory, and coexistence of the DMZ through various works of art.

The DMZ OPEN International Music Festival will be held a total of four times from the 23rd to the 25th at the Goyang Aram Nuri Aram Music Hall.

This year's International Music Festival will present musical narratives under the theme of 'PACE: Return to Peace', including 'Pulse', 'Awaken', 'Connect', and 'Eternity (Continuing Peace)'.

The KBS Symphony Orchestra, Gyeonggi Philharmonic Orchestra, Mallerian Orchestra, and Millennium Philharmonic Orchestra will participate, and conductors such as Michael Sanderling, Yeo Yeo Kyung, and Jinsol, as well as pianist Son Se-hyuk and violinist Lim Ji-young, will perform on stage.

Tickets for the International Music Festival can be reserved through the Goyang Aram Nuri website and NOL Ticket (Nol Ticket) starting from the 2nd.

On the 28th, the DMZ OPEN Ecopeace Forum will be held at Sono Calm Goyang with the main theme of 'Opening the path to peaceful coexistence'.

This year's forum will be co-hosted by Gyeonggi Province, the Ministry of Unification, and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, and about 350 people, including domestic and foreign experts and residents, are expected to participate.

Park Hyun-seok, director of the Gyeonggi Province Peace and Cooperation Bureau, said, “I hope that people will experience the ecological and peaceful values ​​of the DMZ in their daily lives through art, music, and international discussions, and that this will become an opportunity for those values ​​to be passed on to the world.”