DMZ OPEN Festival

The DMZ OPEN Festival is Gyeonggi-do’s premier multi-faceted cultural event, designed to allow visitors to directly experience the peace, ecological, and historical values of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) through various means, including art, academia, and sports. It is characterized by moving beyond the narrow view of the DMZ as merely a space of division and military tension, instead reinterpreting its long-preserved ecological environment, historical significance, and the potential for peace and coexistence through the cultural language of today. Gyeonggi-do is expanding this concept under the banner of “OPEN,” signifying the transformation of the “closed DMZ” into a space open to everyone; accordingly, the festival is organized not as a single event but as a series of programs spanning multiple genres over an extended period. The core of the DMZ OPEN Festival lies in going beyond an “event about the DMZ” to become a “festival where participants walk, listen, see, and reflect while experiencing the DMZ.” The core value of the event is to embody the DMZ’s peace, ecological, and historical values—as well as “greater peace”—through the festival, and to connect diverse events—including art, academia, and sports—into a single narrative structure.