Government: "24 National Cultural Facilities Including Museums to Partially Reopen from the 6th" (Update)

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Buaeri] The operation of 24 national cultural facilities nationwide, including museums and libraries that had been closed due to the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), will partially resume starting from the 6th.

On the 1st, Kim Kang-lip, the first chief coordinator of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters, announced at a regular briefing held at the Government Sejong Complex that "from the 6th, services at museums, art galleries, and libraries such as the National Museum of Korea, the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, and the National Library of Korea will be resumed on a limited basis."

For public and private cultural facilities, reopening can be decided autonomously under the premise of complying with social distancing guidelines in daily life.

The 24 national cultural facilities resuming operation on the 6th include the National Museum of Korea; 13 regional museums (Gyeongju, Gwangju, Jeonju, Daegu, Buyeo, Gongju, Jinju, Cheongju, Gimhae, Jeju, Chuncheon, Naju, Iksan); the National Folk Museum of Korea; the Museum of Korean History; the National Hangeul Museum; four branches of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (Gwacheon, Seoul, Cheongju, Deoksugung); and three libraries (Central, Children and Youth, Sejong).

Even after reopening, to comply with the 'social distancing in daily life' guidelines, museums and art galleries will only allow individual visits. To disperse visitors by time slots, a reservation system (online, phone, etc.) will be operated, and visitors' names and contact information will be collected.

All exhibition interpretation services and educational events, including group tours and group explanations, will be suspended.

Libraries will first resume copying and lending/returning services. Among these, lending and returning services will only be available at Sejong Library. Other libraries will only offer copying services. Once the COVID-19 situation stabilizes further, reading services will be resumed and the number of users expanded.

The government urged libraries to minimize face-to-face services by using the online reservation system and to strictly enforce mask-wearing.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.