Forty international students and 40 elderly residents will make songpyeon together Monday ahead of Chuseok; participants hail from the United States, Vietnam, China, Myanmar, Turkey, France and beyond.

Participants make songpyeon rice cakes together at a Chuseok cultural exchange event in Seodaemun-gu.
Participants make songpyeon rice cakes together at a Chuseok cultural exchange event in Seodaemun-gu.

International students studying and living in Seodaemun-gu will meet local elderly residents as "neighborhood friends" ahead of Chuseok.

The gathering is designed for participants to make songpyeon rice cakes together and share stories about their respective holiday traditions, bridging generational and cultural divides.

Seodaemun-gu is home to nine universities and, as of 2026, 12,492 international students — 9,181 undergraduates and 3,311 graduate students. The district organized the event to give foreign students, whom it considers key members of its university-city community, a natural opportunity to step off campus and connect with local residents.

Seodaemun-gu will hold the Chuseok cultural experience event "Make Songpyeon, Bridge Generations" from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Monday at Haengbokan Bapsang Branch No. 2 (10 Eungam-ro 1-gil).

The event will bring together 80 participants in total: 40 international undergraduate and graduate students who live in Seodaemun-gu or attend universities in the district, and 40 elderly local residents. The students come from a range of countries, including the United States, Vietnam, China, Myanmar, Turkey and France.

The heart of the event is connection rather than the rice-cake making itself. Students and elderly residents will be paired in teams to make songpyeon together, deepening their understanding of one another as they work side by side during the traditional Korean holiday.

Students will learn from the elderly residents how to shape songpyeon and hear firsthand accounts of how Chuseok has been celebrated in Korea over the years. The elderly participants, in turn, will learn about the holidays and foods of their partners' home countries.

After making the rice cakes, participants will compare holiday traditions from Korea and their respective countries. Using a structured worksheet, they will introduce festive foods, customs, games and family memories, naturally discovering what they share and where they differ.

The event closes with a letter-writing session. Students will write notes of gratitude to the elderly residents they made songpyeon with, while the residents will send words of encouragement to the young people studying and living far from home.

The event goes beyond a traditional cultural experience, offering a rare chance for international students and local residents to meet face to face and get to know one another. It aims to create everyday points of connection between foreign young people and community members who live in close proximity but have had little opportunity to interact.

Seodaemun-gu supports international students' integration into the local community through the Seodaemun-gu Family Center (244 Jeungga-ro), which provides lifestyle information and Korean-language and employment support, as well as programs like this one that bring students and residents together directly.

"International students are our neighbors who live alongside us in Seodaemun," District Mayor Park Un-gi said. "I hope the young people who study here will remember this place not just as somewhere they attended university, but as a neighborhood where they met people and shared warmth."


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