The Jeonju Hanji Culture Festival marks its 30th anniversary this year. The opening event featured awards ceremonies for competitions including the 32nd National Hanji Craft Competition. The festival was held before a decision on whether traditional hanji will be inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Jeonju Mayor Jo Ji-hoon attended the opening ceremony.
Hanji artisans, industry officials and citizens from across the country took part. In his remarks at the opening ceremony, Mayor Jo mentioned the 2026 Jeonju International Hanji Industry Fair. This event, which presents hanji from an industrial perspective, also opened this year.
A separate event wishing for the inscription is also reported to have been arranged during the festival. The city's hopes as it awaits the inscription decision were included in this year's festival program as a separate event.
In Jeonju this year, the inscription bid and the industry fair are moving forward together around hanji. The UNESCO inscription is closer to an effort to protect the inherited skill of making paper by hand, and the industry fair is closer to an effort to bring that paper into the market and everyday life.
The announcement on the inscription is scheduled for December. Whether the paper Jeonju has carried on through 30 festivals will be inscribed will be decided that winter.
