The Viral Korean Run Is Barely a Run
Slow jogging moves at 10 to 15 minutes per kilometre, in long single-file lines, and it went viral in July.
It is called slow jogging, and from a distance it looks like walking. The pace is 4 to 6 km/h, or 10 to 15 minutes per kilometre. Short, light, quick steps. Usually in large groups or long lines. Slow enough that nobody stops talking.
It was created by Hiroaki Tanaka, an exercise physiologist at Fukuoka University in Japan, and introduced to South Korea in 2012 by the Korean Slow Jogging Association. It broke onto social media in early July 2026.
One beginner told CivicNews he wondered whether it counted as exercise at all, then found the small quick steps still made him sweat, and that going slowly for a long time was harder than it looked. In Seoul's Gangdong District, groups kept meeting at local parks after the formal programs ended. That is the tell. The running was never the point of the line.