![Courtesy of Boryeong Festival Tourism Foundation](https://image.ajunews.com/content/image/2024/07/18/20240718134446825500.png)
SEOUL, July 18 (AJU PRESS) - One of Korea's most popular summer festivals kicked off in Boryeong, South Chungcheong Province on Friday, which is famous for its beautiful beaches and skin-cleansing sludge.
The annual Boryeong Mud Festival, now in its 27th year, runs its two-week-long mud-themed madness until Aug. 4, inviting tourists to a variety of fun activities like mud slides, mud wrestling, mud massages, and body painting with mud.
Visitors can also unwind through a number of events and programs including a K-pop concert, a drone-light show, and fireworks.
Organizers of the festival said the mud used at the festival is taken from nearby beaches. Rich in minerals, the mud found in Boryeong, a two-hour drive from Seoul, is known for its purifying properties that help extract impurities and rejuvenate the skin.
First started in 1998, the festival has been named one of Asia's top festivals by the International Festivals & Events Association (IFEA).
With its soaring popularity over the years, it now attracts more foreigners than Koreans. Of the 1.64 million visitors it welcomed last year, about 80,000 were foreigners.