About 141,500 people attended the first day of South Korea's ice fishing festival, according to organisers.

Participants spent time on the frozen lake to catch fish through a small hole dug into thick ice. Some jumped into a pool of freezing water to catch trouts with their bare hands.

In the end, participants had their catch cooked for them to eat.

The "Sancheoneo festival", scheduled to last until January 27, is named after a species of mountain trout native to Korea that lives in the surrounding lakes and creeks in Hwacheon, Gangwon province, about 120 kilometres (75 miles) north of the capital Seoul.