“Let’s dance together before drawing lines between each other!”
The DMZ Peace Train Music Festival, which sings of peace through music, has revealed its final lineup featuring 30 teams from 8 different countries.
Along with the final main stage lineup, the performance programs were also unveiled. This includes the “Peace Train All-Stars” eve festival to kick off the festivities, the “Special Morning Stage” (a site-specific concert in a symbolic DMZ space), the all-time Fountain Stage, and the newly added overnight DJ party, “Midnight Flower Garden Express.”
For those excited for next month’s festival in Cheorwon, a pop-up event titled “Next Stop: Peace Train” will be held at Manhattan Records in Hongdae from May 22 to 24 (Fri-Sun), where fans can get a first look at official merchandise.
Known for its unique curation and diverse audience participation, the DMZ Peace Train Music Festival (hereafter Peace Train) will take place from June 12 to 14 at the Goseokjeong area in Cheorwon-gun, Gangwon-do. The final lineup of 30 teams from 8 countries was officially released today (the 12th) at 10 AM.
Celebrating its seventh edition in 2026, the DMZ Peace Train Music Festival has consistently received praise for its curation that transcends nationality, genre, and generation. This year is already creating buzz with legendary artists who have left significant marks on music history, such as Thurston Moore (frontman of Sonic Youth) and Insooni. With artists from eight countries, including France, Japan, Thailand, and Indonesia, the festival promises a diverse array of performances.
This year’s key message is “Human Activity.” Regarding the slogan “Being well-alive is peace,” the Peace Train secretariat explained, “The festival is a space where we confirm that we are still well-alive in the face of every future.” They added, “The essence that Peace Train pursues is a community activity that awakens all physical senses starting from the heartbeat to fully experience vitality.” This year, Peace Train is preparing a time for audiences to fully immerse themselves in music, welcome one another, and enjoy “humanity” amidst the nature of Cheorwon.
The “Peace Train All-Stars,” a welcoming eve festival, will be held on June 12 (Fri) at 7:30 PM. This year’s opening will be a choral performance embodying the meaning of “Human Activity.” Following this, Animal Divers, WAWAWA, and the National Pigeon Union will take the stage to heat up the first night of Peace Train.
The “Special Stage,” a signature program that musically explores the locality of the DMZ and memories of division, will be held in the garden next to the Labor Party Office this year. The Labor Party Office, a building started under the North Korean regime after liberation, is a symbolic space in Cheorwon that holds the history of division. On the morning of June 14, the Special Morning Stage will feature folk duo Mohair and singer-songwriter Haepa, filling the unique atmosphere of the Labor Party Office with music.
The iconic Fountain Stage, representing the diversity and free energy of the audience, returns this year. In collaboration with Seoul Community Radio (SCR), this stage allows people of all ages and genders to naturally blend through music and dance, filling the fountain square with free-spirited energy every year. This year, Jungle-han, who crosses genres based on reggae, and L-like, who adds modern pop sensibilities to the sounds of funk and disco, will add to the vibrancy.
Additionally, a new late-night program, “Midnight Flower Garden Express,” will be introduced for the first time using part of the Goseokjeong Flower Garden. Rave collective PERMIT, known for planning original parties in unexpected locations like abandoned factories and traditional Hanok houses, will organize the program. Running from midnight on the 13th (Sat) until dawn, the program will feature KIBUM, who focuses on spatial sound with seamless mixing, and Joon Kwak, a DJ, audio branding, and sound designer who maximizes the sense of presence. The music will span a wide spectrum from intense beats to ambient sounds, leading the festival night into a deeper and freer atmosphere.
Among the final main stage lineup of domestic artists are the representative diva Insooni, Lee Seung-yeol, a musician who laid the foundation for Korean modern rock, and Effie, a global hyperpop star praised by Pitchfork and The New York Times. Other acts include The Volunteers, whose rock sound blends the unique sensibility of Baek Yerin’s vocals, Lil Fish from the band We Are The Night, Kim Ganzi, Claire from Resetters, the superband Cha Seung-woo and Cousins featuring indie scene musicians, Electronic Sheep, a pioneer of Korean folktronica, Peppertones, who have maintained their sound for 20 years since 2004, and Baek Hyun-jin, a unique figure as an actor, painter, poet, and first-generation Hongdae indie musician.
Also joining the lineup are 14 teams including Shin Inryu, winner of the Best Alternative Rock Album at the 23rd Korean Music Awards, Galaxy Express, loved for their raw live performances, R&B artist Otis Lime, selected for Apple Music’s “100 Best Songs of the Year” in 2022, Sailor Honeymoon, who is gaining momentum at major overseas festivals like Primavera Sound, rookie Peach Truck Hijackers, who were nominated for Rookie of the Year at the Korean Music Awards after their first full album last year, and soul-funk band Funk Afric, who deliver freedom, romance, and cheerfulness with their signature groove.
International artists include noise rock master Thurston Moore, frontman of Sonic Youth, who changed the history of alternative rock, and FCO., an art collective consisting of members from representative Japanese indie bands such as Tempalay, PERIMETRON, and MONO NO AWARE. Also appearing are tricot, a Japanese math rock band selected as one of Rolling Stone’s “10 Global Newcomers You Need to Know Now,” Nourished by Time, who received attention from critics worldwide and calls from major British indie labels, and Mildlife, who won the “Best Jazz Album” award three times at the ARIA Awards, Australia’s most prestigious music awards.
The stage will also be graced by 10 teams including DEADLETTER, a 6-member British post-punk band that gained attention for supporting Placebo’s European tour, Batavia Collective, an Indonesian live electronic team that draws overwhelming energy based on solid improvisation, La Flemme, who is shaking up the French rock scene with a sound combining lo-fi garage pop and psychedelic textures, Lewis OfMan, a Paris-based producer and musician who proved his global influence by performing at Coachella 2023, and GYMV, a 4-member Thai indie pop band that brings joyful energy as “geeks who do everything they want.”
Ahead of the grand opening in June, an official pop-up event, “Pop-up Transfer, Next Stop: Peace Train,” will run from the 22nd to the 24th at Manhattan Records in Hongdae, Seoul. This pre-event, held three weeks before the festival, is a gathering-style program where fans can feel the excitement of heading to the festival in Cheorwon and connect with others. During the three-day event, fans can preview t-shirts and slogans embodying this year’s key message, “Human Activity,” and participate in various programs such as prize draws and treasure hunts.
This year’s space will be themed after “Dongje,” a traditional ritual praying for the well-being and harvest of the village. The meaning of “Human Activity” is woven throughout the space using gold ropes and flags used in prayer rituals, as well as round objects symbolizing life and circulation.
A Peace Train official stated, “Just as Dongje was a time when villagers gathered to pray for peace and abundance, we hope this event allows people waiting for the festival to gather and share the sensation of being well-alive.”
Tickets for the 2026 DMZ Peace Train Music Festival are available on the Melon Ticket page: 99,000 KRW for a 1-day pass (Sat), 88,000 KRW for a 1-day pass (Sun), and 154,000 KRW for a 2-day pass. Cheorwon residents and soldiers serving in the Cheorwon area can participate for free via Naver pre-registration.
