Chiaksan Peaches
KoreaGangwon · WonjuChiaksan Peaches: Wonju's Summer Fruit and the “Sweetest Ever” Meme
A one-line roadside banner reading “Chiaksan peaches, sweetest ever” became a nationwide meme. Here is the real story behind it: peach farming on the slopes of Chiaksan in Wonju, its geographical indication, the summer festival and local dishes flavored with peach.
A Meme Born From One Banner
For a few years now, the phrase “Chiaksan peaches, sweetest ever” has been everywhere on the Korean internet. According to Wikitree, it began with a banner hung on a roadside utility pole. There was no phone number and no store name, just that one line, and its sheer confidence made people laugh. Photos spread, and the phrase became a meme used in cram-school ads, product parodies and even clothing designs. The fun part is that the line is not just bluster. The slopes of Chiaksan in Wonju, Gangwon Province, really are a long-established peach-growing area. Wonju City promotes Chiaksan peaches as its signature produce and holds a peach festival every year. Thanks to the meme, some people now visit Wonju just to check whether the peaches are really that sweet.
Sweetness Shaped by the Chiaksan Slopes
Chiaksan is a national park mountain rising east of Wonju. Growers credit its slopes for the peaches' sweetness: well-drained sloping land, big gaps between summer day and night temperatures, and plenty of sun. The idea that cool nights keep the fruit from burning off the sugar it makes by day is a familiar one in other mountain fruit regions too. According to Wikitree, only high-sugar fruit averaging 13 degrees Brix or more is shipped for the festival. In 2025 the Wonju Agricultural Technology Center announced that Chiaksan peaches would be supplied to a major Seoul department store at two to three times the usual farm-gate price, making headlines as the priciest in the country. Still, “sweetest ever” is ultimately the growers' pride talking, so tasting them yourself and deciding is part of the fun.
Korea's First Peach With a Geographical Indication
Chiaksan peaches were registered as geographical indication No. 63 in 2010. Reports at the time said registration came a year and three months after the application in December 2008, making it Korea's first geographical indication for peaches. Some later articles give the year as 2019, but reports from the time of registration show it was 2010. Festival materials say peach growing in Wonju began in the 1900s and now involves more than 300 farms. A 2010 Kyunghyang Shinmun report named Jeomsil village in Gahyeon-dong as a main growing area, and noted that a harsh winter that year badly damaged the orchards, a reminder that raising peaches in cold Gangwon is never easy.
A Peach Festival at Summer's End
Peaches are a summer fruit, generally harvested between June and September. Each year, as summer reaches its peak, Wonju holds the Chiaksan Peach Festival. The 24th edition took place on August 23 and 24, 2025, around Youth Square in Myeongnyun-dong, with 19 producer groups offering a quality contest, variety displays, a direct farmers' market and free tastings. The activities are simple and fun: peeling a peach in one long unbroken strip, a no-hands speed-eating contest, arm wrestling and a true-or-false quiz. You can buy freshly picked peaches by the box at the festival, and many people take them home as gifts. Dates shift a little every year, so check Wonju City's announcement before you go.
Wonju Dishes Flavored With Peach
In Wonju, peaches are not just eaten as fruit. In 2014 the Seoul Shinmun listed Chiaksan peach bulgogi among the city's signature dishes: Korean beef marinated in juice from Chiaksan peaches and grilled over hardwood charcoal. The fruit juice tenderizes the meat and adds a gentle sweetness that sets it apart from ordinary bulgogi. A few barbecue restaurants in Wonju serve it. The same article also named mulberry-leaf rice with dried pollock and Wonju-style loach soup, made with gochujang instead of soybean paste, as local foods. On a summer visit, try walking the Chiaksan valleys by day, having peach bulgogi for dinner and picking up a box of peaches on the way home. Ripe peaches bruise easily, so keep them at room temperature and eat them within a day or two.