The National Museum of Korea in Seoul. (image: National Museum of Korea)
SEOUL, Jun. 24 (Korea Bizwire) — The number of museums, including art museums, in South Korea will increase by 16 percent over the next five years under a government proposal to make representative cultural infrastructure more accessible to the public, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said Monday.
The ministry unveiled a medium and long-term museum expansion plan to raise the number of museums nationwide by 186 from the current 1,124 to 1,310 in 2023.
By the target year, the nation will have 1,013 museums, up from 873, and 297 art museums, up from 251, according to the plan.
The country’s population per museum will decrease from 45,000 to 39,000 in the five-year period, it said.
Through the expansion plan, the government will nearly double the utilization rate of such institutions from 16.5 percent in 2018 to 30 percent in 2023.
“The government’s policy efforts will be focused on making museums and art museums more friendly and useful cultural facilities for the people,” said a ministry official.
(Yonhap)
