Niantic has announced the Pokémon GO Week, the first official Korean Pokémon GO event, lasting for an entire week from November 4 to November 12.
Pokémon GO Week is a part of the wider Pokémon Festa event in Korea, which includes pop-up shops, stamp rallies for the new movie etc. The event is nationwide with a series of legendary bird encounters taking place only in Seoul.
During the event, all Pokémon spawns in Korea will be increased and Trainers in Seoul will be able to battle Articuno, Moltres, Zapdos and Lugia. In addition, Mr.Mime and Unown will be spawning throughout the country.
There is no participation fee, the event is taking place in all of Korea (except for some areas (*)) / Seoul / Lotte World Mall and lasts from November 4 (Sat) – November 12 (Sun).
Big props to Joe Merrick of Serebii for clarifying Pokémon Festa for us.
Pokémon Festa isn't a Pokémon GO event. It's a wide Pokémon event with Pokémon GO Week being a part of it
— Joe Merrick (@JoeMerrick) October 24, 2017
Except for some areas (*)
If you’re wondering what the “except for some areas” statement means, we want to remind you that Korea is a country with a very complex political situation.
The Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) is a stretch of land running across the entire Korean Peninsula, dividing North and South Korea and creating the countries northern border.
In the past, there was an incident including discovery of a now-deleted Gym in Panmunjom, an important structure north of the DMZ where the Korean Armistice Agreement was signed on 27 July 1953, stopping the conflict between North and South Korea.
Furthermore, the game was not initially released in Korea due to severe restrictions on usage of existing online mapping data. It wasn’t before January 2017 that Korean Trainers got a chance to play the game.
To our knowledge, the “except for some areas” quote refers to the following locations/areas:
- The DMZ
- North Korea
- Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea
Infographic about the Korean DMZ, credits go to Dom & Hyo:
