PHOTOS: Rice transplanting season brings life to countryside

SEOUL, May 13 (AJP) - By mid-May, the South Korean countryside awakens to the intensive rhythm of "monaegi," the season of rice transplanting.

This labor-intensive process, where young rice seedlings are carefully transferred to prepared paddies, unfolds across the rural landscape from mid-May through mid-June.

These transplanted shoots, nurtured in the flooded fields, will eventually yield the autumn harvest, beginning in October.

모내기 — Rice seedlings are planted using a rice transplanter in a research paddy in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province, May 9, 2025. Courtesy of Gangwon Province Agricultural Technology Administration

울산 모내기 — A rice planting event takes place in a paddy field in Ulsan, May 13, 2025. Courtesy of Ulsan Metropolitan City Government

모판키우기 — Workers tend to rice seedlings in a nursery in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province, April 17, 2025, in preparation for rice transplanting. Yonhap

못자리 만들기 — Farmers in Taean, South Chungcheong Province, prepare for rice transplanting, April 17, 2025. Yonhap

Cho Bo-hee jobo@ajupress.com