This computer-generated image is provided by Yonhap News TV.
SEOUL, May 1 (Korea Bizwire) — Admission fees for 65 Buddhist temples affiliated with the Jogye Order, South Korea’s largest Buddhist sect, around the country will be scrapped starting this week, the cultural heritage authority and the sect said Monday.
The free admission will begin Thursday, when a revised law requiring the state to make up for the loss of fees comes into force, the Cultural Heritage Administration (CHA) and the Jogye Order said.
Visitors currently are required to pay admission fees ranging from 1,000 won (US$0.7) to 5,000 won per person when they enter Buddhist temples with Korean cultural properties.
Under the revised Cultural Heritage Protection Act, owners or managers of state-designated cultural properties can receive the costs for preserving or managing the properties from the central government or municipalities if they do not charge the costs as admission fees from visitors.
A total of 41.9 billion won was allocated by the central government for this purpose.
The CHA will accept applications from owners or managing organizations of state-designated cultural properties for government grants until the end of June.
The revised law on covering the loss of admissions fees isn’t confined to cultural properties inside Buddhist temples.
The government will also accept applications for grants from private owners or managers of state-designated cultural properties, and review their qualifications for the government funding.
The 41.9 billion won will cover the costs for the remaining eight months of this year. For the full year of 2024, the budget allocated to cover admissions will likely rise.
But temples that own or manage cultural properties designated by cities or provinces will continue to charge admission fees.
Temple admission fees were originally included in admission fees for national parks starting in 1970, as many Buddhist temples are situated in scenic mountains designated as national parks.
Since temples have separately collected admission fees even after the fees charged to enter national parks were scrapped in January 2007, the temple admission fees have been a long-debated issue.
Even though temples claim the measure is inevitable to properly preserve and manage state-designated cultural assets in their compounds, hikers and climbers who merely pass through the temples to enter the mountain have protested the charging.
Under an agreement reached Monday before the revised law went into effect, the CHA and the Jogye Order said they will jointly promote understanding of Buddhist culture and work together to develop and implement relevant policies.
(Yonhap)
