Haenyeo (Sea Women) Diving Culture

UNESCO-listed women freedivers who have shaped Jeju's society for centuries

The haenyeo — Jeju's female freedivers — are the island's most internationally recognised cultural symbol. These women dive without breathing equipment to depths of up to 20 metres, harvesting sea cucumbers, abalone, conch, and other seafood. The practice is centuries old, passed down through generations, and was inscribed on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2016.

You can watch haenyeo working at several points around the coast, but the most reliable and least staged viewing is at the Haenyeo Museum near Gujwa-eup on the east coast, where exhibits explain the tradition in detail, and at the Samsunghyeol heritage site at Seogwipo. Many restaurants around the coast serve the seafood the haenyeo harvest — particularly fresh abalone and sea urchin bibimbap, which are Jeju specialities.

Haenyeo Museum: Haenyeo Museum-gil 26, Gujwa-eup. Open Tuesday–Sunday.

things to do sight
A story
The haenyeo tradition created one of the few matriarchal economic structures in East Asia. For centuries, women were the primary breadwinners in Jeju households while men stayed home to raise children and tend crops — the reverse of the mainland norm. The haenyeo's earning power gave Jeju women unusual social status and independence, a legacy that still distinguishes the island's culture from the Korean mainland.