Bahk Eun-ji has been with The Korea Times since 2012, building a career across multiple desks. She began at the Business Desk, where she conducted in-depth interviews with key figures in Korea's corporate world. Later, she moved to the Politics & City Desk, focusing on education policy and social affairs. She later served as team leader of the digital content team, leading curation efforts on the newspaper’s homepage and reshaping print stories for social media audiences to enhance digital reach. Now back on the Politics Desk, she covers the National Assembly and the Ministry of National Defense, with a renewed focus on political developments.
Lee Kun-hee museum may be set up in Seoul; provincial governments protest
Painting by Korean artist Lee Jung-seob is introduced during an event to make public the list of artworks donated by the late Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Seoul in this May 7 photo. Yonhap
By Bahk Eun-ji
By Bahk Eun-ji
An empty plot in central Seoul is being considered by the government as the most preferred space to build a new museum to display the art collection donated by the late Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee, according to the city government and the culture ministry, Wednesday.
The move, however, is drawing strong protests from local governments in other parts of the country that are eager to host the so-called “Lee Kun-hee Museum,” and are calling for regionally balanced development of the country's “cultural infrastructure.”
An aerial view of land in Songhyeon-dong, Jongno District, Seoul / Yonhap
According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism recently asked whether it would house the museum on the land in Songhyeon-dong near Gyeongbok Palace, the ownership of which is currently being transferred from Korean Air to the city government.
Following the offer, Seoul City answered it would review the idea positively ― it initially viewed making the plot a public park.
City officials said building the museum there would create synergy in tourism as it could be linked to other tourist destinations nearby such as the palace, Insa-dong and Bukchon Hanok Village.
However, provincial governments, which hoped to host the museum, are strongly protesting the news that the capital is being mentioned as a candidate site.
A dozen cities and provinces have so far expressed their wish to build the museum, including Busan, Daegu, Gyeongju, Sejong, Changwon, Jinju, Uiryeong and Yeosu.
Daegu Mayor Kwon Young-jin held a press conference at City Hall, Tuesday and said, “We were disappointed after hearing the news that Seoul could be chosen to host the museum because of its accessibility.
“We can provide 250 billion won ($225 million) for the construction of the Lee Kun-hee Heritage Center, including an art museum and an outdoor cultural complex, with city funds and donations,” he said.
Daegu is where the late chairman was born.
The previous day, Jinju Mayor Cho Kyu-il and Uiryeong County Mayor Oh Tae-wan held a joint press conference at Uiryeong County Office, and said, “The museum should be set up in the southern part of the country in order to achieve a balance in terms of regional development.”
Uiryeong is the birthplace of Samsung founder Lee Byung-chul, Lee Kun-hee's father, and Jinju is where Lee Byung-chul attended elementary school.
As the protests grew, the culture ministry responded, saying nothing had been decided yet and it was reviewing other municipalities' requests to host the museum as well.
“We first checked whether the Songhyeon-dong land was available, as it is one of several candidate sites,” a ministry official said.
“We are still receiving opinions and advice from experts on the necessity of building the museum, so it is too early to select a site at this point. But we will look into all the sites as many local governments have expressed the hope of hosting the museum.”
The culture ministry has formed a taskforce to gather opinions from experts in various fields about establishing the museum.
Culture Minister Hwang Hee plans to announce a detailed plan early next month.