It is a tour taken on foot at night. The Busan Metropolitan Government holds the Wartime Capital Busan National Heritage Night Tour across the old downtown in August. As a night program that opens its doors after sunset, it is filled with a sequence that retraces on foot the heritage inscribed with the memory of refuge during the Korean War.
A surface that is merely an old wall when you pass it in daylight reveals even its stains and cracks under the lights. The night tour uses that change. By placing the same street in a different hour, it alters the senses of the person walking.
Heritage is an object of study and, for some, the backdrop of today's life, and opening at night brings in the lighting and the sound of footsteps together. The Busan Metropolitan Government has been going through the procedures to list the heritage of wartime capital Busan as World Heritage. Preparing for the listing raises the standards of preservation, and the night tour draws people in. Managing the two so that neither wears the other down remains the task of this event.
Busan was the temporary capital during the Korean War. The slopes and stairways of the old downtown, where refugees gathered, still hold the traces of the life that arose then. The reason the night tour chose walking reaches here as well. The gradients and the width of the alleys, invisible when you pass by car, are read by the body when you walk.
Once the August nights pass, Busan's cultural calendar moves into autumn. The 31st Busan International Film Festival opens on Tuesday, October 6 and runs for ten days through Thursday, October 15, with the Busan Cinema Center as the main venue. The organizing committee will release the full lineup of invited films on September 1.
The night tour is an event on foot. Level ground is scarce in the old downtown and stairways and slopes run on at length, so it is better to bring shoes and water. On August nights in Busan, the heat of the day does not drain away until late.
On an August night in Busan's old downtown, the tour begins with climbing one slope. Even at a single old stairway, the walking stops.
Event Information
Date: August 2026
Venue: Busan old downtown area
Host: Busan Metropolitan Government
