2026 Cheonan K-Culture Expo opens Sept. 2 with five days of concerts, exhibitions, and food events

The 2026 Cheonan K-Culture Expo opens September 2 at the Independence Memorial Hall area in Mokcheon-eup and runs through September 6. Cheonan City, the Independence Memorial Hall, and Cheonan Culture Foundation are co-hosting under the theme K-Culture, Standing at the Center of the World.

Three fields anchor the industrial exhibition: K-Food, K-Webtoon, K-Pop. A 40-booth Chungcheongnam-do Food Industry Expo runs alongside a Cheonan Farmers Market selling local agricultural specialties for all five days.

The concert schedule splits by genre. September 3 brings K-Rock with YB and 10cm. September 4 shifts to K-OST featuring Kim Na-young, Melomance, and K.Will. September 5 hosts a live public broadcast of SBS Radio's Escape at 2 PM Cultu Show. Opening night on September 2 kicks off with a drone and laser show. The expo closes September 6 with the Cheonan Foreign Festival and a closing ceremony.

A K-Culture Talk Concert will feature Buddhist monk Seonjae Snim, science communicator Gwido, Oh Seung-hwan, and Kim Won-hun.

The thematic exhibition Bridge of Independence marks the 150th anniversary of independence activist Baekbeom Kim Gu's birth. Steel line art renders his face, with sentences from his book My Wish framing the Korean Wave's cultural roots.

Families get a children's experience space called K-Playground, run by EBS and the Korea Toy Association. Nongshim and Lotte Wellfood are hosting a Ramen & Ice Cream Festa with on-site cooking and tasting sessions. (Instant ramen in a museum parking lot, officially sanctioned as culture.)