Far East University students perform a thrilling "Samul Fantasy" based on traditional Korean percussion instruments. [Photo = Reporter Lim Yo-hee]

In an era where the decline of regional areas and the crisis in higher education are being discussed simultaneously, a university in Eumseong, Chungbuk, is partnering with the local community to present an innovative K-Culture festival aimed at a global audience.

To celebrate its 30th anniversary, Far East University will host the "Gamgok K-Culture Festival: Freshly Baked Peaches" for three days from September 12 to 14 at its Gamgok Campus in Eumseong, Chungbuk.

This festival is the first of its kind in Korea—a new model for a K-Culture festival led by a regional university and completed in collaboration with local residents. A press preview was held on the 19th ahead of the event.

The festival is significant in that it features diverse content directly developed through joint R&D conducted over the past year by 10 different departments, including Design, Comics & Animation, Theater & Acting, Hotel & Restaurant Culinary Arts, and Clinical Laboratory Science.

The Fruits of One Year of R&D Across 10 Departments

The Department of Standardized Korean Culinary Arts, the first of its kind in the country, will operate a special experience booth in collaboration with the Department of Airline Services during the festival. The booth will be designed to replicate the interior of a commercial aircraft's first and business class cabins, allowing visitors to briefly become passengers in flight and experience "scientific K-inflight meals" through all five senses.

Students from the Department of Airline Services, dressed as cabin crew, provide an in-flight safety briefing to "passengers" at the aircraft set before serving a "Dried Pollack Gomtang (soup)" meal. [Photo = Reporter Lim Yo-hee]Based on the scientific fact that human taste buds become dulled in the low-pressure, dry environment of an airplane, the Department of Standardized Korean Culinary Arts has introduced Korean menu items precisely engineered to retain their rich, savory flavors even at high altitudes.

The "Dried Pollack Gomtang," unveiled to the press on the 19th, received praise for breaking the limitations of existing instant foods; by standardizing all broths and seasonings into solids and concentrates, it successfully replicated the deep, authentic flavor usually achieved only through hours of slow simmering.

Reporters who participated in the tasting were surprised by how traditional Korean recipes—historically reliant on intuitive "hand-feel"—had been so precisely measured and standardized, with some remarking that it tasted better than freshly made dried pollack soup.

In addition to the meal tasting, students from the Department of Airline Services, dressed in flight attendant uniforms, conducted a cabin safety briefing for the "passengers." The reporters acting as participants had the opportunity to learn essential safety knowledge, such as trying on the yellow emergency oxygen masks and life vests that they had only ever seen from a distance.

Developing Recipes Using Local Specialties

The Department of Hotel & Restaurant Culinary Arts and the Department of Clinical Laboratory Science have collaborated to showcase products using the local specialty, "Hassare Peaches," including peach wine, peach makgeolli (rice wine), peach bread, and peach bibim-myeon (spicy cold noodles).

At this reveal, the Departments of Hotel & Restaurant Culinary Arts and Clinical Laboratory Science showcased bread, bibim-myeon, and wine made using Eumseong specialties. At the bottom, Professor Bong Jun-ho of the Department of Hotel & Restaurant Culinary Arts explains the special bibim sauce made with Eumseong red chili paste. [Photo = Reporter Lim Yo-hee]

The peach wine is characterized by a refreshing profile that blends the elegant sweetness of Hassare peaches with a subtle, trailing acidity. It paired exceptionally well with the dried pollack soup and salmon steak served as part of the inflight meal, earning high praise from the tasters.

Specialty baked goods such as cookies, salt bread, and pies made with 100% Hassare peaches also received significant acclaim. The peach salt bread, in particular, was described as maximizing the "sweet-and-salty" appeal, combining a crispy-on-the-outside, moist-on-the-inside butter salt bread base with the subtle acidity and sweetness of peaches.

Furthermore, the "Hassare Peach Bibim-myeon Sauce" developed by the Department of Hotel & Restaurant Culinary Arts uses local peaches and Eumseong chili peppers. It is characterized by a significant reduction in corn syrup, relying instead on the deep, natural sweetness of the fruit. The flavor was so popular among the tasting group that the supply quickly ran out.

These products, developed by the university, represent a win-win project with Gamgok-area farmers and bakeries. The significance lies in successfully transforming fallen or aesthetically imperfect peaches—which would otherwise go to waste—into bakery ingredients, wine, or vinegar using patented processing technology and in-house low-temperature fermentation recipes.

Professor Bong Jun-ho of the Department of Hotel & Restaurant Culinary Arts remarked, "I am pleased that this project provides new sales channels for local farmers and offers consumers a unique gourmet experience. We will use these bakery product developments as a starting point to expand our lineup of Hassare processed foods in the future."

These peach-based bakery products are expected to become "special local delicacies" that tourists and dessert-loving MZ generation visitors to Gamgok won't want to miss.

Students on the Verge of Copyright Revenue

Students from the Department of Beauty, under the guidance of Professor Kim Jin-ah, held a smelling session for peach-scented perfumes they developed themselves. Most of the students participating in the session were international students from distant countries like Nepal and Uzbekistan, currently studying at Far East University to learn K-Beauty. The school plans to award scholarships to students who earned high marks at the session.

Meanwhile, the Department of Comics & Animation unveiled character IPs "Got-gun" and "Peach-yang," which are modern reinterpretations of the traditional Korean "Jaringobi" (miser) folktale.

Yoon Chae-bin (sophomore), who passed the Naver OGQ review with her "Peach Girl Peach-yang" character, holds merchandise featuring the character. [Photo = Reporter Lim Yo-hee]

Sophomore student Yoon Chae-bin passed the Naver OGQ review with her character, "Peach Girl Peach-yang." She mentioned that after failing once when she tried in middle school, this was her second attempt at success, allowing her to finally introduce her character to the world.

Naver's OGQ Market allows creators to upload and sell self-created emoticons (stickers), images, and fonts, with creators receiving approximately 70% of the copyright revenue generated from each sale. Yoon shared her ambition, saying, "I will work hard to refine my skills and grow into a great illustrator and animator."

The "Gamgok K-Culture Festival: Freshly Baked Peaches," which involves a "co-creative structure" featuring 2,000 Hassare peach farmers and local residents alongside 2,000 Far East University students, will begin with a preliminary event in Sri Lanka in August, followed by the main event in Gamgok in September. This small festival is already promoting the university, increasing local income, and further exporting K-Culture. The day it becomes a benchmark model for domestic festivals is not far off.

President Ryu Ki-il briefs attendees on the "2026 Gamgok K-Culture Festival: Freshly Baked Peaches" at a press conference held in the Far East University conference room. [Photo = Reporter Lim Yo-hee]

Merchandise featuring character IPs "Got-gun" and "Peach-yang," modern reinterpretations of the traditional "Jaringobi" folktale. [Photo = Reporter Lim Yo-hee]

Commemorative photo after the tour [Photo = Joint Press Corps]

Eumseong = Reporter Lim Yo-hee