Jinju City said that Dewey Moore, the U.S. principal officer in Busan, and his party visited Jinju on October 7 and toured the Jinju Namgang Yudeung (lantern) Festival. The party boarded the Namgang River cruise boat "Kim Si-min" to view the night scene of lanterns floating on the river and looked around various parts of the festival grounds.
This year's Jinju Namgang Yudeung Festival is being held from October 1 to 15 around Jinjuseong Fortress and the Namgang River, and is hosted by the Jinju Culture and Arts Foundation. Admission is 10,000 won, and inquiries can be made at 055-282-1900. The festival is a global festival designated by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
In 1961, Jinju City became the first local government to establish a sister-city relationship with Eugene, Oregon, in the United States, and it has continued youth exchanges during school vacations. In October 2025, it pursued a friendship relationship with Columbus, Georgia, expanding exchanges into culture and the arts, youth and education. Building on these exchange relationships, the city links visits by delegations from international exchange cities and officials from diplomatic missions to the festival period every October.
Using this visit by the U.S. Consulate in Busan as an opportunity, the city plans to strengthen communication with its U.S. friendship cities and broaden cooperation with related institutions in various fields, including culture, education and industry. A Jinju City official said, "The Jinju Namgang Yudeung Festival has now gone beyond the domestic level and is becoming a valuable meeting place where officials from international exchange cities and diplomatic missions visit Jinju and communicate."
The Korea Elevator Safety Agency, which relocated to Jinju Innovation City, is also taking part in the festival. The agency installed an arch-shaped entrance lantern depicting its corporate identity and mission at the entrance to the pontoon bridge of Mulbitnaru Bridge, a main visitor route. It is also running the "KoELSA Pontoon Bridge Entrance Lantern Photo Challenge," in which employees visit the festival grounds and post photos of the entrance lantern on social media, and participating employees are given in-house social contribution mileage.
The detailed schedule is available on the festival details page.