Boryeong Mud Festival to appear in school textbook

The Boryeong Mud Festival will appear in a Korean high school textbook.

According to Boryeong City, South Chungcheong Province, Thursday, the festival will be introduced in a high school textbook on social and cultural studies to be edited by Jihaksa Publishing Co.

It will be described as one of three flagship provincial festivals of Korea on Page 104, along with the Celadon Festival in Gangjin, South Jeolla Province, and the Rice Cultural Festival in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province.

Currently, the mud festival is depicted on Page 90 of a middle school textbook on social studies, which was compiled by the same publishing company and made available in the first semester of this year. It is introduced as a domestic travel destination worth a visit, alongside the East Sea beaches, Hallyeohasesang marine park and Jejudo Island.

The mud festival was selected as a festival representing Korea three consecutive times from 2008 to 2010 by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. In 2011, it gained the upgraded title of an honorary best festival of Korea from the ministry.

The mud festival was launched in 1998 as an event to promote cosmetics and other products made from Boryeong mud, and has since been held in July each year on Daechon beach.

Last year, it topped the list of most visited domestic festivals with 3.08 million visitors including 248,600 foreigners. This year, 3.17 million tourists including 248,300 foreigners enjoyed the festival.

By Chun Sung-woo (swchun@heraldcorp.com)