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Students smile as they wait in line for a food truck at Kyung Hee University’s Dongdaemun campus during the school’s autumn festival on Sept. 28.

The campus of Kyung Hee University was filled with smiling faces, some masked and some unmasked, at the university’s autumn festival on Wednesday, which took place after Korea’s outdoor mask mandate was completely lifted and mask-wearing was made optional.

The country’s outdoor mask mandate, which first went into place on Oct. 13, 2020, was limited in scope on April 12, 2021, to places where it was impossible to maintain 2 meters of distance from other people.

Student kick back on steps to enjoy their food truck meals.

That rule was dropped on May 2, 2022, as Korea shifted to a more routine approach to handling COVID-19. Nevertheless, masks were still required for gatherings, concerts and sporting events attended by at least 50 people. But even that requirement vanished when the outdoor mask mandate was dropped entirely on Monday.

The joy visible on the faces of students picking up their orders at a food truck and the excitement showing on the faces of students waiting in line for a concert at the open-air theater brought home the fact that in-person festivals are finally being held again. We rounded up some photos from the festival.

Rides were installed on the school’s sports field for the festival.

Students wait in line to nab seats for a performance.

A student photography club at the university was selling keychains made from developed rolls of film.

Photos and article by Shin So-young, staff reporter

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