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| yna@yna.co.kr 2026-02-03 17:42:47
SEOUL, Feb. 3 (Yonhap) -- The National Museum of Korea, which welcomed more than 6.5 million visitors last year amid the global boom in K-culture, will partially adjust its opening hours starting in March.
As debate continues over introducing admission fees for its permanent exhibitions, the museum also plans to develop an online reservation and ticketing system and pilot it in the first half of next year.
According to its key operational plans released Tuesday, the museum said it will change its opening hours from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. starting March 16. Previously, it opened from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., with extended hours until 9 p.m. on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Under the new schedule, both opening and closing times will be moved forward by 30 minutes.
The museum will also revise its closing days. Until now, it closed only on Jan. 1 and on the days of the Lunar New Year and Chuseok holidays. Going forward, it will close four times a year — on the first Monday of March, June, September and December. This year, after the hours adjustment in March, it is expected to close on June 1, Sept. 7 and Dec. 7.
The measures are intended to ease congestion and inconvenience caused by a sharp rise in visitors. The museum recorded 6,507,483 visitors last year, about 1.7 times the 3,788,785 recorded in 2024 and the highest figure since its opening in 1945.
With up to 44,000 visitors per day, complaints have grown over long queues even before entry and difficulties using facilities such as parking lots and restaurants.
“The museum will embark on a transition this year to redesign its overall visitor experience and operational structure under the vision of a ‘museum for everyone,’” the museum said. “We plan to present a new direction for museum functions and spaces so that 6.5 million visitors can enjoy the museum safely and comfortably.”
The museum will also step up preparations for possible admission fees for its permanent exhibitions. The National Museum of Korea has offered free admission to its permanent galleries since May 2008, although special exhibitions co-organized with major overseas museums and galleries are ticketed.
In December this year, the museum plans to establish a customer relationship management (CRM) system to systematically collect, manage and utilize visitor data and usage information. A museum official said an online reservation and ticketing system — enabling non-face-to-face electronic entry checks and mobile tickets — will be developed and piloted in the first half of 2027.
A decision on whether to introduce admission fees for permanent exhibitions will be made after the pilot phase and consultations with relevant government ministries.
The museum is also renovating and expanding its exhibition spaces and facilities. The Children’s Museum, popular with family visitors, will be expanded by 2029 to about 4,950 square meters, nearly double its current size of about 2,539 square meters.
With only about 9,000 items — 2.1 percent of its roughly 430,000-piece collection — currently on display, the museum plans to introduce more cultural heritage through “season highlight” exhibitions and frequent rotation of exhibits.
This year’s lineup includes a special exhibition titled “Our Table” in July, exploring the origins and evolution of food culture, and the country’s first exhibition on Thai art, scheduled for June to September. The permanent exhibition gallery “Path of History” will display the “Daedongyeojido,” while an immersive video featuring the Bangudae Petroglyphs of Daegok-ri in Ulsan — a UNESCO World Heritage site and national treasure — will be unveiled in December.
The museum is also preparing collaborative exhibitions with institutions such as the Tokyo National Museum, the Kunsthaus Zürich, the Victoria and Albert Museum in the United Kingdom and the Cleveland Museum of Art in the United States.
Marking the 140th anniversary of diplomatic ties between South Korea and France, a special exhibition highlighting Silla, the first unified kingdom on the Korean Peninsula, will be held in May at the Guimet Museum of Asian Art in Paris.
An overseas touring exhibition of artworks donated by the late Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee will continue in Chicago from March 7 to July 5, following its Washington, D.C. showing, and move on to London from Oct. 1 to Jan. 31 next year.
In addition, the museum plans joint academic research with institutions such as the National Museum of Mongolia and studies of artifacts excavated from sites in North Korea, including tombs in Hwanghae Province and the Songjeong-ri shell midden in Unggi, North Hamgyong Province.
“Next year will be a turning point when the museum breathes more closely with people’s daily lives and expands that experience to the world,” said Yu Hong-jun, director of the National Museum of Korea.
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