Korea's tourism authorities are combining two of the country's biggest cultural obsessions — coffee and reading — for a seaside getaway this week on the nation's eastern coast. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) are hosting "Sea 24 Hours: Book Trip," a five-day outdoor reading event at Anmok Beach in Gangneung, running through Sunday. The event taps into "text hip," a viral trend among young Koreans who view reading physical books as a stylish, aesthetic lifestyle statement rather than just a quiet hobby. It is paired with the annual Gangneung Coffee Festival, which draws roughly 300,000 visitors to a coastal city widely celebrated as Korea’s specialty coffee capital. Set against a pine grove stretching along the sandy shoreline, the initiative also aims to encourage travelers to slow down, encouraging festivalgoers to linger longer in the region through a relaxed blend of coastal views, local coffee, and literature. The book lounge, open daily from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., offers about 200 books in four themed sections: food, photography