On January 12 (Monday), Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism CHAE Hwi-young attended the “2026 New Year’s Gathering for Museum and Art Museum Professionals” at the National Museum of Korea, exchanging New Year’s greetings with  approximately 400 museum and art museum officials from across the nation.

During the event, government awards were presented to those who dedicated themselves to the development of museums and art museums over the past year. Kim Eun-gyeong, Director of Onyang Folk Museum, and Park Choon-soon, Director of Haeden Museum of Art, received Presidential Citations. Meanwhile, Kim Mi-kyung, Head of Product Business Division at the National Museum Foundation of Korea, who is leading the MU:DS trend, Park Sun-joo, Director of Youngeun Museum of Contemporary Art, and Kim Jong-hoe, Head of Hwang Sun-won Literature Sonagi Village, received Prime Minister’s Citations. The MCST Minister’s Citations were awarded to 15 people, including Ko Mi-kyung, Director of Exhibition Planning Department at the Incheon National Maritime Museum, for their contributions to development, and to 8 people, including Lee Ji-eun, Curator at Yangsan Museum.

An awards ceremony was also held for outstanding institutions in the “2025 Museum and Art Museum Week” program. The Schema Art Museum and the Gyeonggi Museum of Contemporary Ceramic Art received the MCST Minister’s Awards, the K Pop Museum and the Ansan Fishing Village Folk Museum received the International Council of Museums (ICOM) Korea Committee Chairman’s Awards, and the Savina Museum of Contemporary Art and the Gimpo Tea Etiquette Museum received the Korean Museum Association President’s Awards.

Minister CHAE stated, “In 2025, we witnessed the public’s deep enthusiasm for museums and art museums, with the National Museum of Korea surpassing 6.5 million visitors. However, many regional museums and art museums are still facing difficulties.” He added, “As 2026 is the Year of the Red Horse, we plan to pursue key policies for museums and art museums, including developing core content for museums and art museums, conducting feasibility studies for establishing branch national museums, and giving priority to regional areas, while communicating with the field to make this a year of leaping forward with strong vitality and passion. We will spare no effort in supporting museums and art museums to establish themselves as core spaces of cultural attraction that live and breathe with the people.”