08-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Korea Herald
National Folk Museum of Korea eyes going global
When it reopens in Sejong City in 2031, state museum will have greater focus on world culture
The National Folk Museum of Korea will be the country's premiere institution showcasing world culture when it reopens in Sejong in 2031.
The national project to set up a complex of state-run museums in Sejong — a de facto administrative capital two hours from Seoul — will help reshape the identity of the museum that had heavily focused on promoting Korean culture, according to Jang Sang-hoon, the NFMK director general, Tuesday.
'We have time to prepare ourselves to practice what will work,' he said, speaking at a press conference in Seoul.
By late 2026, an exhibition hall dedicated to world culture will open at the NFMK located inside Gyeongbokgung. Through this, the museum hopes to gauge public reception of its new vision.
'We have to go global and there's no doubt about the direction. Our museum in Sejong will offer something that you won't be able to see here in the capital,' Jang added.
Whether the museum is ready to feature artifacts spanning diverse cultures is a concern being taken seriously, Jang said.
The museum has about 14,000 objects on world culture from some 100 countries, according to the museum.
'We need to work on some fronts, like African and South American nations,' a museum official said of the regions where more artifacts are needed.
Donations by artists have been of big help, the official added, citing the late documentary photographer Kim Soo-nam.
Kim's photos, one of which explores shamanism on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa, have led to discussions with Japanese museums about joint exhibitions, according to the official.
The push for the museum's global future will be put to the test during a two-day Children's Day event in early May. The free May 4-5 event has been organized with 13 foreign cultural centers in Korea to introduce traditional performances and plays from countries spanning Asia, Europe and Latin America.
Meanwhile, the NFMK will begin to publish the English, Chinese and Spanish editions of its Encyclopedia of Korean Folk Culture online this year. The Korean online version available on Naver logged over 3 million views last year.
