National Museum of Korea Director You Hong June on Feb. 3 announces his institution’s business plan for 2026 at a new year’s news conference held at the museum in Seoul’s Yongsan-gu District. (Lee Jeongwoo)
By Kang Gahui
The National Museum of Korea, which attracted a record 6.5 million visitors last year, plans to revamp its viewing environment and operational structure.
At a new year’s news conference on Feb. 3 at the museum in Seoul’s Yongsan-gu District, the institution’s director You Hong June said, “We will go beyond simply expanding the scale of visits and boost the quality of the viewing experience.”
Visitor hours will be adjusted to avoid congestion. From March 16, the museum will be open from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. instead of 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Four days of closure will also be added. In addition to Jan. 1, Seollal (Lunar New Year) Day and Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving), the facility will be closed on the first Monday of March, June, September and December.
Joint use of the parking lot at the nearby Yongsan Children’s Park is also being promoted. In August, outdoor rest spaces will be expanded like the eatery and cafe Mirror Pond and “water-gazing steps.”
The competitiveness of permanent exhibitions will see improvement before the museum begins charging admission.
A calligraphy and painting room that reopens on Feb. 26 will feature a seasonal highlight event of leading masterpieces every three months. The permanent exhibition “Path of History” will show Daedongyeojido (Map of the Great East), a representative relic of Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910).
Another room featuring the Korean Empire (1897-1910) will reopen in April, while the Buddhist Sculpture Gallery will do so after a 10-year hiatus.
The museum will also play a leading role in promoting Korean culture abroad.
A traveling exhibition of the art collection belonging to Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee will first stop at the Art Institute of Chicago from March 7 to July 5 before moving on to the British Museum in London from Sept. 10 through Jan. 10, 2027.
The Cleveland Museum of Art in October will host an exhibition of the funeral culture and beliefs on the afterlife of Korea’s Goryeo Dynasty (918-1392).
The Tokyo National Museum of Japan this month will hold an exchange exhibition to mark last year’s 60th anniversary of the normalization of bilateral relations. In July, it will host a calligraphy display linked to a summit of national museum heads from Korea, China and Japan.
In May, the Guimet Museum of France plans a display themed on Korea’s Silla Kingdom (57 B.C.-A.D. 935) to mark the 140th anniversary of bilateral ties. In September, the Shanghai Museum of China will hold an exhibition featuring Silla culture to mark the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation event hosted last year by the former Silla capital of Gyeongju, Gyeongsangbuk-do Province.
Back in Korea, the exhibition “Our Table” from July to October will shed light on the formation and evolution of Korean culinary culture. The country’s first exhibition of Thai art is slated from June to September.
“The number of visitors last year is an indicator of our status as a culturally developed nation,” Director You said. “We will fully become a ‘K-Museum’ this year that leads the world.”
kgh89@korea.kr
