Korea's Running Boom: Why Everyone Runs Together Now

Head to Banpo or Yeouido Hangang Park around sunset and you’ll almost certainly see it: dozens of people in matching singlets filing past in a single line. On Sunday mornings in Gwanghwamun or Jamsil, tens of thousands of runners with race bibs take over the roads. Not long ago, marathons in Korea carried a “middle-aged hobby” image. Today, running in Seoul is an everyday culture led by people in their 20s and 30s.

This is the first piece in SeoulWindow’s running series, and it sticks to numbers you can check in government statistics and news reports: how big running has become in Korea, and why. Where to run along the Han River and what to do with your bag are already covered in our Seoul Han River running guide, so here we focus on the story before that: the “why”.

How many people run in Korea?

The figure the government survey confirms is this: 7.7% of people who exercise regularly name running as a main activity, about 1.6 times the share a year earlier. The “10 million runners” you’ll see quoted by media and industry is an estimate. The two numbers count different things, so read them separately.

The most reliable yardstick is the National Sports Participation Survey, which the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism runs every year with about 9,000 people aged 10 and over. In the 2025 survey, released in January 2026, 62.9% said they exercise regularly (at least 30 minutes, once a week or more). Asked to name their main activities, up to three in order, they answered as follows.

🏃 Top 10 main activities among people who exercise regularly (MCST 2025 National Sports Participation Survey, 1st+2nd+3rd choices combined, %)

Running’s gain (2.9 percentage points) ties with bodybuilding as the biggest after hiking (5.0 points), and by growth rate (about 60%) it’s the steepest climb in the top 10. One caveat: the ministry notes that the way walking and running were categorized changed in 2023, so comparisons with earlier years need care. In other words, this survey can’t support claims like “running grew X-fold in 10 years.”

Why did Koreans suddenly start running?

There’s no single reason. The pandemic, the low cost, social media check-in culture and the fun of running together stacked up over several years. Health sits underneath it all, judging by the government survey. In the 2025 National Sports Participation Survey, the top reason for exercising was “staying healthy and building fitness” (79.9%), followed by “weight control and body shape” (48.5%) and “stress relief” (41.2%). On top of that, running had a few advantages of its own.

A citizen-reporter piece on Seoul in My Hand (내 손안에 서울), the city’s official news site, also says the number of runners surged as interest in health grew after COVID-19. A running coach interviewed by Newsis made the same point: many people switched to outdoor running during the pandemic, when exercising indoors was hard. Why didn’t they leave once indoor activities reopened? Because of the next stage: the fun of showing it off and doing it together.

Korean has plenty of words for this mood. ohunwan (오운완), short for “today’s workout, done,” has become the go-to hashtag for post-workout check-in posts, and the injeungshot (인증샷, proof shot), a run summary screen posted alongside a sweaty selfie, is now a ritual of its own. You’ll also hear healthy pleasure (헬시플레저), the idea that looking after your health has to be enjoyable to last. Someone who has just started running is a reollini (런린이), a mash-up of “run” and the Korean word for “kid.”

Still, most people run alone. In an Embrain Trendmonitor survey (released April 2026), 78.9% of people who had run in the past six months said they “mostly run alone.” Crews are what catch your eye, but the core of the boom is people running solo before or after work.

What is a running crew in Korea?

It’s a group that meets on a set day, time and place to run together. Fees are low or nonexistent, and most crews post schedules and recruit runners on Instagram. The typical scene: meet in front of a subway station or in Hangang Park on a weekday evening, run 5–10 km, then grab food or a beer nearby.

In Korean they’re simply called running crews (러닝크루), and they range from crews run by brand stores to neighborhood crews and crews chasing race times. Many call their regular run a “jeonggi-run” (정기런) and a one-off drop-in a “guest run” (게스트런).

The city of Seoul runs a crew of its own, too. The 7979 Seoul Running Crew, which started as a pilot in 2022, is a free public program that runs every Thursday from 7 to 9 p.m., April through October, at Gwanghwamun, Banpo and Yeouido. According to the city, about 5,000 people took part over 2024, and The Korea Herald reported that regular members grew from 300 in 2023 to nearly 1,000 in 2024. Per The Korea Times (April 2026), it’s still going in its fourth year in 2026, at about 60 people per session. How to sign up, plus tips for foreigners, are in part 2 of the series, our guide to Seoul running crews foreigners can join.

How did celebrities and TV fuel the running boom?

Celebrities and variety shows deserve much of the credit for making running look like a “cool hobby.” Two storylines stand out: running for charity, and the hard-fought finish.

Singer Sean (of Jinusean) is practically the face of it. According to Sports Kyunghyang, Sean founded the celebrity running group Unknown Crew with Lee Young-pyo, Lee Si-young and Cho Won-hee, and Park Bo-gum, Im Si-wan, NewJeans’ Danielle and Go Han-min are among those reported to run with it now. 815 Run, the charity run Sean holds with Habitat for Humanity Korea every year on Liberation Day (August 15), drew a record 19,450 participants in 2025 and raised about ₩2.3 billion, which goes toward repairing the homes of descendants of independence activists (per Smart Today). Sean himself ran 81.5 km that day.

Webtoon artist Kian84’s marathons on the MBC variety show “I Live Alone” (나 혼자 산다) were another trigger. In an October 2023 episode he finished his first full marathon in about 4 hours 27 minutes (per OSEN), and in November 2024 the show aired him completing the New York City Marathon despite exhaustion (per Sports Kyunghyang). Running variety shows followed, such as MBN’s “Run to Live” (뛰어야 산다).

Why are there so many marathons in Korea now?

As more people ran, the races to aim for multiplied fast, and popular ones now sell out like concert tickets. National Police Agency data reported by Money Today show Korea went from 19 races in 2020 (9,030 participants) to 254 races in 2024 (1,008,122 participants). The baseline is a year when the pandemic wiped out nearly every race, so the jump looks exaggerated, but a million participants is a big number on its own.

Race counts vary depending on who’s counting. Races the police track for traffic management and totals from listing sites that include small and novelty races are very different numbers.

📊 Marathon races in Korea: counts differ by source (as reported)

Seoul’s two big downtown races are the Seoul Marathon in spring and the JTBC Seoul Marathon in autumn. According to the Korea Economic Daily (citing the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency), the March 15, 2026 Seoul Marathon drew about 20,000 runners each for the full course and the 10 km, more than 40,000 in all. KB Think, KB Financial’s content platform, citing organizer figures, put the 2024 JTBC Seoul Marathon at a record of about 35,000 runners, with registration closing in 10 minutes, and Korea JoongAng Daily reported that the 2025 edition (about 34,000 runners) also sold out right after registration opened. Some races have reportedly switched from first-come, first-served to a lottery as a result.

The growth has a downside. Money Today, citing police data, reported 197 marathon-related accidents from 2020 through September 2025 (72 in 2024) and 1,500 complaints over five years. Weekend road closures and safety tips are covered in detail in part 5 of the series, The dark side of marathon season: weekend road closures, accidents and safety tips.

How big is Korea’s running market?

Euromonitor estimates Korea’s running market at about ₩4 trillion in 2024, roughly 1.4 times its size three years earlier. The Euromonitor figures cited by Korea JoongAng Daily are about ₩2.77 trillion in 2021, ₩3.41 trillion in 2023 and about ₩4 trillion in 2024. Running shoes alone are said to be a market of more than ₩1 trillion (per reports citing the Korea Federation of Textile Industries and industry estimates).

👟 Running spending in numbers (as reported)

Where Nike, Adidas and New Balance used to dominate, Hoka, On and Asics are now a common sight on Seoul runners’ feet. According to Korea JoongAng Daily, the Swiss brand On set up its Korean subsidiary in 2023, and in November 2025 it opened its first company-run stores at The Hyundai Seoul and Lotte World Mall in Jamsil (per Fashionbiz). Musinsa named the trend of wearing running gear and running shoes as everyday clothes running-core (러닝코어), one of its 2025 trend keywords, noting that even sunglasses and running vests have become everyday items.

Are runners and walkers clashing in Seoul?

Yes. As group runners and walkers share the narrow paths along the Han River and in parks, friction has grown, and the city of Seoul and its districts have rolled out etiquette campaigns and advisory notices. In an Embrain Trendmonitor survey (released April 2026, 1,000 people aged 13–59), more respondents viewed running crews unfavorably (44.9%) than favorably (33.9%), and the top reason for disliking them was “they run in packs, block pedestrians and feel threatening” (68.2%). Even so, 66.6% said etiquette and self-regulation matter more than rules.

Seoul runs a Runtiquette (런티켓) campaign with the Korea Sports Safety Foundation. The core asks: run single file or in small groups on narrow paths, keep right on walkways and stay off bike lanes, use earphones instead of speakers, and dress neatly. According to Korea JoongAng Daily, signs went up in Yeouido Park asking runners to refrain from going shirtless, clapping and cheering, and running in groups, and Seocho-gu posted a notice limiting group runs of more than five people on the Banpo Sports Complex track. For district-by-district rules and the manners to follow, see part 4 of the series, Korea’s running etiquette and local rules. For what’s banned in Hangang Park itself and the fines, see Hangang Park rules and fines.

What will travelers see, and how can you join in?

Crews streaming through Hangang Park on weekday evenings, race fields filling downtown streets on weekend mornings, and running shoe stores all over town: these are the scenes you’ll naturally run into on your trip.

👀 Moments when you'll feel Seoul's running boom

Know the race days in advance. According to the city of Seoul, during the 2025 JTBC Seoul Marathon (November 2), major roads around Sangam, Yeouido, Sindap and Olympic Park were closed section by section from 5:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. And for the “Seoul Run” (서울 달리기) hosted by the city and the Dong-A Ilbo on October 11, 2026, Sejong-daero and Jongno were closed from early morning until 9 a.m. (per Financial News). On mornings like that, allow plenty of time to get around and make the subway your first choice.

If you’d rather run the city wall trails or parks than the Han River, see part 3 of the series, Beyond the Han River: Seoul’s city, park and fortress wall running routes. And for a wider look at the sports Koreans actually do, running included, What sports Koreans actually play is a good companion read.

In the numbers, it’s a trend that took off fast. On the ground, it’s the sum of ordinary moments, like “one lap of the Han River after work.” Slipping into one of those moments during your trip is a pretty great way to experience Seoul.