Hello, this is 속초어때 (Sokcho Eottae). It is Monday, September 21, just past midnight. Right now the temperature in Sokcho is 18°C, the sky is clear, and today's chance of rain is 0%. The daytime high will climb to 23°C. And in exactly 12 minutes, at 12:12 a.m., today's moon sets. It is the moon of the 11th day of the 8th lunar month. Four days from now this moon becomes the full Chuseok moon and will hang in the Sokcho sky all night long.
Today I want to talk about something a little more practical. The Chuseok holiday runs from Thursday, September 24 to Sunday, September 27, and before it there are only three weekdays left, today included. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. There are more things that must be finished within these three days than you might think, and for a few of them today or tomorrow is effectively the last chance.
At midnight the sea off Sokcho is 23.1°C with waves of 0.6 m
Right now the water temperature off Sokcho is 23.1°C. With the air at 18°C, the seawater is a full 5 degrees warmer than the air. If you walk the breakwater at dawn you can feel lukewarm air pushing in from the sea — a sensation you can only have on the East Sea (동해) in late September. The waves are calm at 0.6 m, so a coastal walk or a look around the harbor this afternoon will be no trouble.
Today's tide is tide day 3 (3물). High tide is at 9:52 a.m., low tide at 6:37 p.m. However, unlike the West Sea (서해), the East Sea has almost no tidal range. Even today, with a high-tide level of 35 cm and a low-tide level of 18 cm, the water level differs by only 17 cm over the whole day. Tidal flats never appear, so rather than moving according to the tide table, moving according to the wave height and the wind is far more accurate on the Sokcho coast.
The sun rises today at 6:12 a.m. and sets at 6:25 p.m. The length of the day is 12 hours and 13 minutes.
Government offices and banks are open only through Wednesday the 23rd
Since the holiday begins on Thursday, city hall, community service centers, banks and post offices are open on only three days: today (the 21st), tomorrow (the 22nd) and the day after (the 23rd). The next business day is Monday, September 28.
There is one thing to be careful about here. The payment deadline for the second installment of this year's property tax is September 30, and once the holiday ends only three days remain — the 28th, 29th and 30th. If you plan to handle it at a counter, you have to choose between the three days this week and the three days after the holiday, and banks everywhere are crowded on the Monday right after a holiday. If you can, it is easier to settle it this week.
For simple civil documents such as resident registration copies and abstracts, there is no need to wait at a counter. You can print them at home through 정부24 (Gov24), or use the unmanned civil document kiosks installed in front of Sokcho City Hall and each community service center, which can issue them even during the holiday.
Tomorrow is the last day for parcels
The most time-sensitive matter this week is parcel delivery. Korea Post (우정사업본부) has already designated September 14 to 29 as a special Chuseok delivery period. That means volume is piling up.
- General areas: to have a parcel arrive before the holiday, it must be lodged by Tuesday, September 22.
- Jeju (제주) and island and mountain areas: today, September 21 is the last day.
- Private courier companies: CJ대한통운 (CJ Logistics), 한진택배 (Hanjin Express) and 롯데택배 (Lotte Express) will all halt general delivery for three days from the 24th to the 26th, and normalize their logistics networks from the 27th.
If you are sending seafood or dried fish from Sokcho to family living elsewhere, you need to make up your mind tonight. Items that need refrigeration in particular, such as jeotgal (salted seafood) or ingredients for mulhoe, risk sitting at a terminal for more than a day if they are lodged right before the holiday. Pack plenty of ice packs into the cooler box and, if possible, lodge it today or tomorrow morning so that it arrives within Wednesday — that is the safer course. Conversely, if you have family coming down to Sokcho for the holiday, it is better to put off bulky luggage entirely and send it after the holiday.
At 9:24 a.m. on the 23rd, Sokcho's night grows longer than its day
At 9:24 a.m. on Wednesday, September 23, the last weekday before the holiday, the solar term Chubun, the autumn equinox, arrives. From that moment on, the night is longer than the day. It may look like a single line on the calendar, but in Sokcho you can feel it quite distinctly.
Today's sunset is at 6:25 p.m., but on the 27th, the last day of the holiday, it is 6:15 p.m. Within a week the sun sets 10 minutes earlier. Sunrise, too, slips from 6:12 today to 6:17 on the 27th, five minutes later. Why does this matter? Because for those planning to climb Seoraksan (설악산), it means the descent time has to be moved up. It is a standard we always mention at 속초어때: the valleys of Seoraksan darken sharply from the moment the sun catches the ridgeline. It is safe to be off the trail two hours before sunset, so for this week set 4:20 p.m. as the deadline for completing your descent.
On the other hand, if you want to watch the sunset, this week is actually good. With a 0% chance of rain and waves of 0.6 m, the horizon will be crisp. Whether you go to the waterfront of Cheongchoho (청초호), Yeonggeumjeong (영금정), or Oeongchi Badahyanggi-ro (외옹치 바다향기로), arriving around 6:10 p.m. will let you settle into a spot with time to spare.
Why six places are busy at midnight
At this hour, the places in Sokcho registering as congested are Cheongchoho, 한화리조트 설악 워터피아 (Hanwha Resort Seorak Waterpia), 금호리조트 설악 (Kumho Resort Seorak), 학사평 콩꽃마을 순두부촌 (Haksapyeong Kongkkot Maeul sundubu village), Daecheongbong (대청봉) on Seoraksan, and 켄싱턴호텔 설악 (Kensington Hotel Seorak) — six in all.
It may seem odd for places to be busy at midnight, but three of the six are lodgings. 워터피아, 금호리조트 and 켄싱턴호텔 have guests staying in them right now, and Cheongchoho is a downtown walking path lit at night, so there are people there even after dark. Daecheongbong being congested at midnight is even clearer: it is the sunrise hike. This is the time band when people who set out before dawn from Osaek (오색) or Hangyeryeong (한계령) are on the move, aiming to meet the 6:12 sunrise at the summit.
That said, there are also places like 학사평 sundubu village where a congestion marker does not necessarily mean businesses are open. Congestion is based on the number of people staying within that zone, so the marker remains even after the shops have closed, because of village residents and parked cars. If you are thinking of setting out at dawn for a bowl of sundubu, I recommend checking each restaurant's opening hours first without fail. Most open around 7 a.m.
As for the access roads, all three — Misiryeong-ro (미시령로, toward Seoul (서울)), Donghae-daero (동해대로, coast and downtown) and Seoraksan-ro (설악산로, toward Seorak) — are registering slow traffic. All three being slow at midnight is a sign of just how many cars have come down early ahead of the holiday.
How Sokcho will run during the holiday
Sokcho City has prepared a comprehensive plan of 24 tasks across 5 areas for this holiday. Picking out only the items that will actually help travelers and residents alike:
- Integrated situation room: 17 situation teams operating from September 24 to 27. Among them, four teams — disaster safety, waterworks, sewerage and public facility management — work 24 hours a day. That means there is somewhere to call even if a water outage or a facility accident occurs during the holiday.
- Parking: Sokcho City Hall and four nearby parking lots, 263 spaces in total, will be opened. It is the surest card when coming into the downtown area.
- Children's meals: for children at risk of missing meals, the meal allowance for the holiday period will be preloaded onto meal cards at 40,000 KRW per child. It is a measure to cover the four days when both schools and local children's centers are closed for the holiday.
- Medical care: an emergency care situation room will be in operation, and the hospitals, clinics and pharmacies open during the holiday will be announced.
It is good to find out in advance where to go if you fall ill during the holiday. The fastest way is to look it up on the E-Gen emergency medical portal by selecting your area and date; by phone, the 119 Emergency Medical Information Center or the 129 Health and Welfare Call Center will guide you. But over the holiday, treatment hours often change or registration closes early, so I strongly recommend calling the hospital before you set out to confirm whether they can register you.
What you can only do before the holiday, and what to put off until after
There is one thing that ends within these three days. In Yeongrang-dong (영랑동), the 민준규 (Min Jun-gyu) photo exhibition runs only through Tuesday, September 22. It is an exhibition by an artist who has long photographed Sokcho's waterfront, an occasion that makes you see the local scenery differently, and it closes before the holiday begins. Tomorrow is the last day.
Conversely, there is something you clearly should put off until after the holiday: the autumn foliage on Seoraksan. This year's first foliage is forecast to begin on Seoraksan around September 30, two days later than average, with the peak between mid and late October. In other words, if you climb Seoraksan during this Chuseok holiday, almost everything apart from the area around Daecheongbong will still be green. Coming in expectation of autumn colors may leave you disappointed, so during the holiday you will be more satisfied with courses built around the scenery itself, such as the cable car, Gwongeumseong (권금성), and a walk along Seorak Hyanggi-ro (설악향기로). If you carry on to the Seorak Cultural Festival (설악문화제), which opens on October 2, your itinerary connects naturally.
Three days from today — just take care of these
- Today (the 21st): last day to lodge parcels for island and mountain areas. Banks and government offices open for business.
- Tomorrow (the 22nd): deadline to lodge parcels for general areas. Last day of the 민준규 photo exhibition.
- The day after (the 23rd): last weekday before the holiday. Autumn equinox at 9:24 a.m. Last day of business for banks and government offices.
- The 24th to 27th: the holiday. Integrated situation room in operation, 263 parking spaces opened around City Hall, parcel delivery suspended (normalizing on the 27th).
- The 28th to 30th: the three business days remaining in September, including the property tax payment deadline.
속초어때 posts a roundup like this every day, organizing date-bound matters by the hour. The three days before the holiday are short, but even just setting the order tonight will make Wednesday evening much lighter.
Today we looked at Sokcho's parcel deadlines and government office schedule three days ahead of the Chuseok holiday, the autumn equinox and the shift in sunrise and sunset, and Sokcho City's measures for the holiday period — was it useful? We will be back next time with even more useful information.
