Korean Culture Night 2026.
Learn more about this year's event, themed around Beoseon.
During week 2, oKay hosted our annual Korean culture night! This year was my third time attending an oKay culture night and now my second as a member of the committee. In case we haven’t been introduced yet, I’m Jemima – a third year Geographer at Christ Church college. I’m oKay’s Publicity Officer, which essentially means it’s my job to advertise the society and communicate information to our community. One of my main responsibilities is managing the society’s socials, but I also helped build our website and I design posters that we display around Oxford city centre.
Culture night this year fell on the 21st October which is Hanbok Day. This event celebrates Hanbok and officially recognises Hanbok saengwal - the practice of making, wearing and enjoying Hanbok - as a National Intangible Cultural Heritage (Kim, 2024).
One of the things I enjoy most about these events is that each year maintains a cohesive theme with a variety of activities that allow attendees to learn about Korean culture in an engaging way. This year’s theme centred around Beoseon (버선) which are traditional Korean socks worn with Hanbok, the cultural clothing of Korea consisting of an upper and lower garment (MCST, 2026). Hanbok has existed in its basic configuration for around 5,000 years but changes shape and structure depending on lifestyle, culture, circumstances, and aesthetic sense of the time (Ibid). More specifically, Beoseon date back to the Three Kingdoms period, having evolved into their current form from the previous incantation of simply being cloth used to wrap up feet (Lee, 2019). During the event, we learned that birthdays and wishes of good luck are traditionally inscribed onto the patterns used to make the socks.
Many Kpop groups have worn Hanbok as part of cultural celebrations like Chuseok (Korean mid-autumn harvest festival), photoshoots, and stage outfits. One example I remember distinctly is Tomorrow by Together (TXT), who wore Hanbok as part of their ‘Act: Promise’ tour in 2025. I attended the London show and it was honestly the best concert I have ever been to! TXT are phenomenal performers and the fact that they incorporated elements of Korean culture into their show made it very impressionable. As part of the concert, the song ‘Sugar Rush Ride’ was given a traditional-style rearrangement and the members wore Hanbok on stage (see Momenian, 2024). Additionally, Beomgyu also performed a traditional dance during his solo stage. Overall, the whole concert was so magical and allowed fans to hear the songs they love presented in a new way.
Each oKay culture night event is organised by good friends of the society Soohee and Ellie! For four years in a row they have dedicated their time each Michaelmas to planning the programme of activities, ordering the supplies, setting up, and clearing away at the end of the night. Therefore, the whole committee would like to say a huge thank you for all their time and hard work as well as their dedication to allowing others to learn about their culture!
During this year’s event, we were welcomed into the room with an array of Korean snacks and drinks. Personally, I’m quite a big tea drinker – think Yorkshire tea, green tea, matcha, earl grey, chai, Darjeeling, camomile, kombucha, you name it! Therefore, I really appreciate the opportunity to try out new flavours of tea. We also got the opportunity to try snacks like choco pie and Korean sweets.
After everyone had arrived, the first section of the programme began, which was a presentation that taught us about the progression of Hanbok and how developed into the designs we see today. Attendees were able to ask questions during this session and we were shown examples of the different garments from the items that the organisers had brought with them. This summer, I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to visit Korea myself and was able to see people wearing Hanbok at the royal palaces during my trip. Therefore, I appreciated the chance to learn more about the history and significance of Hanbok, down to the colours, styles, and materials they were made out of. I haven’t yet worn one myself, but I think it would be nice to get the opportunity one day as they are incredibly beautiful garments.
Something new that I learned during the presentation was the number of layers involved in traditional Hanbok! We were taught that layering is very important to allow for the shape of the items to form. Furthermore, we also learned that people used to store objects within the layers – almost like a pocket. Additionally, I was excited to hear New Jeans’ Hanbok referenced during the presentation as they are one of my favourite Kpop groups!
Later on, the next section gave us the chance to make our own Beoseon that we were able to keep. Using the materials provided, we each sewed the sock and then decorated them using stamps and fabric markers. I was a little slow but managed to get the hang of it and appreciated having some quiet time to do an activity after a busy day. My Beoseon is a really nice memento and I’ll be able to keep it with the Norigae (Korean decorative pendant) that we made the previous year.
The final segment of the event involved a quiz with lots of prizes. Each of the questions focused on things we had learned about Hanbok and Beoseon from earlier in the evening. At the end, I received a bookmark and a Gonggi set, a classic Korean game that we played during my first Korean culture night with the society. Traditionally, the game is played with five small, round stones and involves tossing one into the air and trying to pick up the four others scattered on the ground one-by-one before catching the falling stone (Choi, 2025). If you’re interested in learning how to play, it’s very easy to figure out and there are lots of tutorials online.
Overall, I'm excited to see what will be planned for future culture night events, and I'd like to thank the organisers again for a wonderful evening!
References
Choi, J. (2025) Small stones, big benefits: Why some South Koreans are serious about 'gonggi'. The Korea Herald. Available from: https://www.koreaherald.com/article/10384889 [accessed 22/10/26].
Kim, J. (2024) Hanbok – traditional Korean dress. V&A. Available from: https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/hanbok-traditional-korean-dress?srsltid=AYCX9vJwYe_na9ugs3TNF6BkE1s0C8wYn_sUNUC5mUE2dju46TQOq_zA [accessed 24/10/26].
Lee, E. (2019) Beoseon. Korea Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism. Available from: https://www.korean-culture.org/eng/webzine/201906/sub07.html [accessed 22/10/26].
Lee, J. (2024) [Herald Review] TXT concludes third world tour, opens new chapter. The Korea Herald. Available from: https://www.koreaherald.com/article/3846618 [accessed 4/11/24].
Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism (2026) Hanbok. Global Issues. Available from: https://www.mcst.go.kr/english/useful/issue.jsp?pTab=02 [accessed 24/10/26].
Momenian, D. (2024) TXT on Maturing, Packing for the Act: Promise Tour, and Skin Care Essentials. Teen Vogue. Available from: https://www.teenvogue.com/story/txt-act-promise-tour-2024-style-interview [accessed 22/10/26].
This was a really nice blog post to read, Jemima, and it made me feel like I was at the event!