National Folk Museum's new director aims to guide move to Sejong

The National Folk Museum of Korea's newly-appointed director Jang Sang-hoon speaks during a press conference at the museum in Jongno District, central Seoul, on Wednesday. [YONHAP]

The first thing that the National Folk Museum of Korea’s newly appointed director, Jang Sang-hoon, stressed on Wednesday in a press conference was to make a museum that “connects the stories of myself, us and neighbors to share all together.”

Jang made his first public appearance as the museum’s director, since being appointed early last month, to reveal the museum’s upcoming plans.

His biggest agenda items were to advance the museum’s preparation for its move to Sejong and to amp up research on folk culture.

The museum is in the process of moving into the National Museum Complex of Korea in Sejong, where it will be located with other national museums, including those for children, urban architecture, design, digital cultural heritage and historical documents.

The moving project began in 2016 and is expected to finish in 2030. The museum is slated to fully open in 2031.

This means that for the first time in six decades, the National Folk Museum of Korea will no longer be inside the Gyeongbok Palace site in Jongno District, central Seoul.

The cost of the 14-year project is estimated at 198.1 billion won ($143.8 million). Currently, the overall construction plans are still in discussion.

“If the National Museum of Korea represents the greater Seoul region, then the National Folk Museum of Korea will soon represent southern-central Korea,” Director Jang said.

It’s important that cultural facilities, which tend to be heavily centered in Seoul, continue to disperse throughout the country to balance out regional development, he said. “Our new location in Sejong will be a major upgrade to the city.”

This year, the National Folk Museum of Korea will hold exhibitions on kkokdu (traditional wooden dolls), the history of coffee and the Year of the Snake, the latter as a preview for 2025. An exhibition on Korean knots will take place at the Korean Cultural Centre AU in Sydney in July and then move on to the Metropolitan Museum of Manila in November.

The museum will also release special edition encyclopedias on Hallyu (Korean wave) and related cultural symbols in December.

This follows the publication of the Encyclopedia of Korean Folk Culture, which has organized the subject matter on traditional Korean culture into 70 books since 2004. The online website version has been visited over 3 million times last year alone and is available in English as well.

The museum will also publish research papers on Korean photography studios, regional folk beliefs, traditional spices, fermented food and East Asian baskets and masks in the latter half of 2024. An educational platform for the elementary school level is in the works.

“The Folk Museum strives to be a museum that is capable of showcasing the universal and versatile culture of Korea, and sharing them with the rest of the world,” Jang said. “The methods may vary; there may be different funeral rituals or ways of expressing happiness when a baby is born according to each region, but the underlying sentiments are always fundamental.”

BY SHIN MIN-HEE [shin.minhee@joongang.co.kr]