Kang Seung-woo is the Business Desk editor at The Korea Times. Prior to this position, he covered politics, national affairs, finance and sports.
Multiculture Museum seeks to change perception of multiculturalism in Korea
Kim Yun-tae, center, director of the Multiculture Museum, with guests during the opening ceremony of its “Roads of the World” exhibition at the museum in Seoul, Nov. 7. / Courtesy of Multiculture Museum
By Kang Seung-woo
By Kang Seung-woo
Unlike its original meaning, Koreans have mainly perceived multiculturalism as the culture of people from developing countries who come here for international marriage.
A desire to change this perception was the catalyst for Kim Yun-tae, a vocal music major, to establish the Multiculture Museum in 2007.
Kim Yun-tae, director of the Multiculture Museum.
“I thought a museum was the best place to help fix their perception as it could show them the variety of cultures of each country,” Kim, the museum director, said in an interview with The Korea Times.
“In general, Koreans think people from multicultural backgrounds need to understand and adjust to Korean culture, but I believe it should be a two-way introduction of each side's culture. In other words, while we guide them to our culture, we need to understand their cultures as well.
“In that respect, a large number of ambassadors to Korea think highly of the Multiculture Museum's role for more than a decade.”
The five-story museum, in Eunpyeong-gu, western Seoul, has more than 2,000 cultural items showing the traditional customs of countries all over the world, ranging from foreign banknotes to masks and musical instruments.
In addition to displaying items as many other museums do, it can serve as a place allowing visitors to experience various countries' traditional clothes, music and dance.
The Multiculture Museum also has arranged weddings for multicultural families annually since 2010 and 16 couples have married so far.
“Our wedding ceremony is not a group ceremony because we want each bride from foreign countries to become the protagonist of the ceremony, so we arrange weddings only for two couples each year,” Kim said.
“In addition, we hold a traditional wedding ceremony from each bride's country to help their Korean spouses and families learn to appreciate and embrace the culture of the bride.”
The museum also has held many exhibitions and its latest, “Roads of the World,” is on display until Nov. 30.
“The exhibition introduces the world's streetscapes in 2019,” Kim said. “From ancient years, the road has been a channel of cultural exchange and has existed with us in various forms, including a mixture of social, cultural and historical situations and contexts.”
While continuing to introduce the cultures of many countries to Korea, Kim said he plans to create content to promote Korean culture overseas.
In addition, the museum is scheduled to move to Sangam-dong, western Seoul, next year, giving it extra space to display more cultural items from around the world.