Does korea have a new year?

Travel Info
China has their new year, does Korea have one?

Travel Tips

~ Yes... Jennifer P... same as Chineese

~ February 17th at midnight was their New Year

~ I was blessed to be at a Vietnamese Buddest Temple to assist the Pyrotechnician in lighting off 240,000 firecrackers two nites ago in Santa Ana, California...

What a TRIP! Perhaps 5 thousand people packed around the temple... we had two locations where we had two 40 foot ropes tied to pulleys at the top outside corners of the temple... hanging from each were strings of 20,000 firecrackers ... four of them per rope... or 80,000 on one corner... 80,000 on the other corner... these were lit-off at 11:59pm on the 17th. On the 18th at 00:30, we fired off the remaining 80,000 firecrackers!

The noise was deafening... the people were ecstatic... excited... so happy for their New Year [of the Pig this year 2007].

I was able to take excellent video footage... so colorful... such a happy crowd... such loud noise... such wonderful entertainment... prayers offered for the firecrackers... such ceremony...

~ Yes... Jennifer P... Korea too has the same new year... Perhaps you can catch a glimpse on the Asian news channels for the 17/18th of February... Or perhaps youtube or other www sites. Source(s): ~ Pyrotechnic apprentice
~ Videographer
~ Christian

Other Travel Tips
Yes.
how else would it be 2007 ?
South Korea celebrates both solar and lunar (like China) New Years. The lunar new year is called Seollal and is one of the biggest holidays they celebrate here. People get all dressed up in hanbok (traditional Korean clothes [do an image search, they're pretty neat looking]). Like many important Korean holidays, it revolves around ancestor worship. During a big meal (that the women spend all day before preparing), places are set for departed ancestors (not all, typically just heads of family), and their names are written on flimsy rice paper (in Chinese characters). After the meal, the papers are taken outside and lit on fire and let float away into nothingness.
Scott L's answer is good. New Years in Korea is an important time for families. It is more subdued than in China (where I now live) with fewer fireworks, etc. The Chinese typically take a week of celebrating; in Korea, typically one day but some people take off a few days.

In the ancient past, the King of Korea would send emissaries to the Emperior of China to determine the exact date of the New Year, even though Korea had very talented astronomers themsleves - it was part of being a smaller neighbor to a larger power to show respect to the Chinese Emperor.
I lived in Korea a number of years and have a Korean wife.