Robot monk Gabi stars at Daegu’s 2026 Korea Buddhist Culture Expo

Published : Admin, Date : 16 June 2026

A Buddhist cultural festival featuring dialogues with monks and exhibitions of Buddhist art will be held in Daegu.

The Daegu city government announced on the 10th that it will host the ‘2026 Korea Buddhist Culture Expo’ at EXCO from the 11th to the 14th. Now in its 5th edition, the festival aims to promote Buddhist teachings and culture by blending traditional Buddhist culture from Daegu and Gyeongbuk with advanced technology and local tourism industries.

This year, a pet-friendly program has been introduced for the first time. Visitors accompanied by pets can enter for free and purchase vegetarian snacks for their pets at dedicated booths. 

A total of 229 booths will be set up at the expo. Key programs include a “Lucky Ball Draw & Collection” event, a traditional Buddhist culture product exhibition, a Buddhist art exhibition, and a temple food exhibition. In the “Lucky Ball Draw & Collection” program, visitors can use a lucky coin received upon entry to draw a ball and engage in a dialogue with a monk or read a message of luck. Balls containing messages written by Venerable Jinwoo, head of the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism, Venerable Seongwang, Samsung Lions baseball players Koo Ja-wook, Won Tae-in, and Choi Hyoung-woo, and Daegu FC’s star player Sejingya will be displayed.