.png "Stray Kids November 11th and Pepero Day")
Updated: September 16, 2026
By early November, Korean convenience stores start changing shape.
Boxes of biscuit sticks multiply near the register. Simple packs sit beside gift sets dressed like bouquets. Some look romantic; others are exactly the kind of thing someone can drop on a classmate’s or co-worker’s desk without making the moment too serious.
This year, Stray Kids gave that scene a soundtrack. November 11th, released September 10 with Lotte Wellfood’s Pepero campaign, carries writing and composition credits from Han.
For an overseas fan, the title creates the obvious question: why did November 11 become a day for giving Pepero in Korea?
11.11 Was an Easy Shape to Remember
Write November 11 numerically and you get 11.11: four narrow lines that look remarkably like Pepero sticks standing side by side.
The resemblance made the date easy to remember. It did not make Pepero Day an ancient Korean tradition.
The Korea Times traced the earliest media record it found to November 1996, when the custom was already popular among teenage girls in North Gyeongsang Province. The girls exchanged the snack and attached their own playful meanings to its long, thin shape.
Lotte later pushed Pepero Day much more aggressively through nationwide promotion. The company has also said the culture itself was not created at the corporate level.
The most accurate version is therefore less tidy than either popular myth. Pepero Day is neither an old national holiday nor simply a date invented one morning in a marketing meeting. A consumer ritual and commercial amplification grew together.
It Is Broader—and Looser—Than “Korean Valentine’s Day”
Calling Pepero Day a Korean Valentine’s Day is a useful shortcut until it becomes too neat.
Couples participate, of course. But Pepero also moves between friends, classmates, family members and co-workers. A large gift box can carry romantic weight. A single pack can mean almost nothing more dramatic than, “I thought of you when I saw these.”
In Korea, that sentence can be complete in itself.
Not everyone celebrates. Some people find the whole thing commercial. Some notice only the convenience-store promotions. Others buy a few boxes because the social cost is low and the gesture is easy.
That looseness is not a flaw in the tradition. It is one reason the ritual can travel through so many kinds of relationships.
Stray Kids — “November 11th”
Han wrote the lyrics and co-composed the track, giving the Pepero campaign its own Stray Kids song rather than simply placing the group beside an existing jingle.
The Song Turns a Small Korean Routine Into a Global Entry Point
November 11th is part of a commercial campaign. There is no reason to disguise that fact.
What becomes interesting overseas is what happens after the advertisement has done its job. A listener can discover the song first, search the date second, and end up learning why the first week of November looks different inside an ordinary Korean convenience store.
K-pop often exports Korea through spectacular images—arenas, choreography, fashion weeks, cinematic videos. Everyday culture can travel more quietly.
A snack display is not impressive in the same way. But for someone who has gone to school or worked in Korea, those boxes can feel almost seasonal. They signal a date before anyone checks the calendar.
The Best Translation Is Not “Holiday”
Pepero Day is not a public holiday and it does not demand participation.
You can celebrate it seriously, joke about it, buy one box, buy none, or simply notice that the convenience store has rearranged its front shelves.
That scale is useful when listening to Stray Kids’ song too.
November 11th is attached not to one of Korea’s grand traditions, but to a modern ritual in which a very small gift can briefly mean: I thought of you today.
Eating Only Seoul Convenience-Store Food for 24 Hours
VisitSeoul TV gives the Pepero story its natural setting: the bright, slightly overwhelming convenience-store world where Korea’s everyday snacks become part of daily city life.
Sources
- Bugs — “November 11th” release information and credits
- The Korea Times — How Pepero Day got started in Korea
- KBS World — Stray Kids Pepero Day collaboration
- Information checked September 16, 2026.
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