Korea, explained from the source. Visas, entry and working in Korea, plus the festivals and events worth planning a trip around. Not press summaries: we read the official notices, the law and the public records ourselves, and we say what we could not verify.
Image generated with ChatGPT for illustration purposes. Paying more than the board says is one of the oldest complaints visitors bring home from Korea, and in 2026 the government changed the penalty for restaurants. Since September 1, an eatery, café or bakery that has no visible price list, or that takes more money than its own list shows, is closed for five days the first time inspectors confirm it. A repeat costs ten days and a third case twenty. Before the change, a first case ended with an order to fix the problem and nothing more. The step comes from a broader package announced on February 25 at a national tourism meeting. That plan also promised seasonal price caps declared in advance by hotels and guesthouses, faster license suspensions for taxi drivers who overcharge, and removal from gift-voucher schemes for businesses that are penalised. On the pages I checked on October 31, only the restaurant rule had actually been written into law; the others were still listed as plans....
Get link
Facebook
X
Pinterest
Email
Other Apps
National Museum of Korea 2026: Free Entry, Hours, Paid Exhibits
Get link
Facebook
X
Pinterest
Email
Other Apps
AI 일러스트 · AI-generated illustration (background scene, not the museum's real gallery). Card facts: museum.go.kr Image generated with Canva Magic Media (background scene) for illustration purposes.
Is the National Museum of Korea in Yongsan free? Yes, but that "free" covers the permanent galleries, the Children's Museum and the free special exhibitions, and not the paid special exhibitions, which have their own tickets, their own ticket-office cut-off and their own refund rule.
This page separates the two, using the museum's own English visitor pages and, for the ticket details that exist only in Korean, the Korean exhibition page. Checking the text of each page on September 30, 2026, on October 21 and again on October 26, the English pages give hours and the free policy, while prices, discounts and booking channels for the paid show appear only on the Korean page. Where neither says something, this page says so instead of guessing.
Hours and last entry
Day
Open
Last admission
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Sunday
9:30 am – 5:30 pm
5:00 pm
Wednesday, Saturday
9:30 am – 9:00 pm
8:30 pm
Outdoor exhibition area
7:00 am – 10:00 pm
No ticket
The hours page adds that visitors "will be guided to exit 10 minutes before closing time."
What is free and what is not
The viewing-hours page puts it in two lines: free for "Permanent exhibition halls, Children's Museum, and free special exhibitions," and charged for "Charged Special exhibitions." There is no general admission ticket. You walk into the permanent galleries without queuing at a counter.
The Children's Museum is the exception to walking in. It is free, but online reservation is required, in five sessions a day (9:30, 11:00, 13:00, 14:30 and 16:00), with 320 online tickets per session.
Exhibitions on now, and which ones cost money
Exhibition
Where
Dates
Ticket
Kim Jeonghui and His Companions
Calligraphy room 202-1, permanent hall
Aug 11 – Nov 22, 2026
Free, per the Korean page
Donated collection exhibition 2
Donated Collection 4 (Room 205)
Jul 27 – Nov 15, 2026
No fee stated; inside the free permanent hall
Evergreen Bamboo Through the Four Seasons Embodied in Ceramics
Buncheong and white porcelain gallery
Jun 23, 2026 – Jan 31, 2027
Free, no booking, per the Korean page
Breaking the Seal of a Thousand Years: Buddhist Manuscripts from Dunhuang
Central Asia Gallery (Room 307)
Oct 23, 2026 – Jan 24, 2027
No fee stated; inside the free permanent hall
Birth of Modern Art: Kunsthaus Zürich collection (모던 아트의 탄생)
Special Exhibition Gallery 1
Nov 27, 2026 – Apr 18, 2027
Early-bird 12,000 won; full prices not announced
Marie Antoinette Style
Special Exhibition Gallery 2
Dec 18, 2026 – Mar 31, 2027
Not yet announced
One detail for the Kim Jeonghui show: its best-known piece, the orchid painting 불이선란도 (Bulyiseollando, a designated Treasure), was on view only from August 11 to September 13. The exhibition continues without it. The English home page also lists "Tour of National Treasures: Masterpieces Across the Country" as a current special exhibition; the Korean page shows it touring six regional public museums (Jincheon, Yeongam, Uiryeong and others), not the Seoul building.
The paid show that ran through the autumn, The Korean Table (우리들의 밥상), closed on Sunday, October 25, after three free days for the 2026 Hansik Festa. I read through the museum's current and upcoming exhibition lists on October 26: The Korean Table is gone from both, and the dates in the table above match the current list. Until November 27 there is no paid special exhibition in the Seoul building; everything in the table above is in the free permanent hall.
Birth of Modern Art: early-bird tickets and booking rules
The next paid exhibition is Birth of Modern Art, from the collection of the Kunsthaus Zürich (모던 아트의 탄생 – 스위스 쿤스트하우스 취리히 소장품 특별전), in Special Exhibition Gallery 1 from Friday, November 27, 2026 to Sunday, April 18, 2027. The Korean page lists 85 paintings and sculptures from the 18th to the 20th century, with works by Monet, Chagall, Matisse, Picasso, Brancusi, Kandinsky, Magritte and Dalí, and Swiss artists including Hodler, Klee and Giacometti.
Checking the Korean exhibition page on October 26, only the early-bird ticket has a price so far. I compared its entry hours with the museum's general hours page, and they match:
Item
What the page says
Early-bird price
12,000 won per person, one ticket type, on sale from October 13 at 10:00 until sold out
Where to buy
Ticketlink and Naver booking
Visit dates covered
November 27 to December 17, except Wednesday sessions after 6 pm and Monday, December 7
Tickets per booking
Up to 4, online
Cancellation
Until 11:59 pm the day before your visit
Entry
In 30-minute time slots; ticket office and last entry 4:50 pm (8:20 pm on Wednesday and Saturday)
Three details from the same page matter before you buy. The early-bird discount is set against the adult full price, and the page says children and seniors pay less with the regular ticket and its own discounts. Free-entry visitors who want an early-bird ticket still pay 12,000 won. Early-bird buyers get a mobile barcode by KakaoTalk on Wednesday, November 25, and walk in without the ticket office; a visitor without a Korean KakaoTalk account should ask the hotline (1644-7169) how the barcode reaches them. Regular prices have not been announced.
The exhibition is closed on Monday, December 7, 2026, Monday, March 1, 2027, January 1 and Seollal day, February 7, 2027. An opening lecture on Swiss art and European modern art runs on November 27 from 2:00 to 4:00 pm in the museum's lecture room, first come, first served.
Closed days in 2026, and galleries shut for work
Date
What closes
January 1
Whole museum
February 17, 2026 (Lunar New Year)
Whole museum
September 7, 2026 (quarterly maintenance)
All galleries and facilities except the outdoor area
September 25, 2026 (Chuseok)
Whole museum
First Monday of March, June, September, December
Permanent and special galleries (no closure in March 2026)
By that rule the next gallery closure is Monday, December 7, 2026, a date the Kunsthaus Zürich page also names. The rest of October has no closure on the museum's calendar. Our Korea in October 2026 guide covers the month's other holiday closures.
Two sets of galleries are shut even on open days. The August 26 notice closes these rooms for renovation from July 6, 2026 to January 28, 2027: Buddhist Paintings (Room 203), Wood and Lacquer Crafts (204), Calligraphy and Painting (202-3 and 202-4), Buddhist Sculpture (301), Metal Crafts (302) and Sa-i: Room of Senses. The September 28 notice closes the Central Asia Gallery (Room 307) from Monday, October 12 to Thursday, October 22; it reopens on October 23 with the Dunhuang manuscripts exhibition, which the museum's English home page now lists as "Breaking the Seal of a Thousand Years: Buddhist Manuscripts from Dunhuang," running to January 24, 2027. If Buddhist sculpture is the reason for your trip, it is off view until late January.
Getting there and parking
Take Line 4 or the Gyeongui-Jungang Line to Ichon Station, leave by Exit 2 and walk 150 m toward Yongsan Family Park. An underground path, Museum Nadeulgil, links the station to the museum from 7:00 am to 11:00 pm, and there is an elevator toward Exits 1 and 2. The address is 137 Seobinggo-ro, Yongsan-gu; English phone help is +82-2-2077-9046.
The museum recommends public transport because spaces are limited. Car parking costs 1,000 won for the first 60 minutes (the first 20 minutes are free), then 500 won per 10 minutes, capped at 30,000 won a day. Compact and hybrid cars get 50% off, and parking is free for visitors with disabilities.
A plan that fits the rules
Until November 27, a visit costs nothing: the permanent galleries, the Dunhuang manuscripts in Room 307 (to January 24), the Kim Jeonghui display (to November 22) and the bamboo ceramics (to January 31) are all in the free permanent hall. Wednesday and Saturday stay open to 9:00 pm. If you plan to see Birth of Modern Art in its first three weeks, the early-bird ticket is the only one on sale; book a date, keep to the day-before cancellation limit, and avoid Monday, December 7. For later dates, wait for the regular prices. For the Chuseok-week comparison of palaces and museums, see our Chuseok 2026 in Seoul page.
What this page could not confirm
The English site does not list special-exhibition prices or booking rules; the figures above come from the Korean page. The donated-collection and Dunhuang pages state no fee; both sit inside the permanent hall, which the hours page lists as free. Regular ticket prices for the Kunsthaus Zürich show and any prices for Marie Antoinette Style (from December 18) are not announced, and the Kunsthaus page prints the end of its early-bird window as "2025" December 17, which reads as a typo for 2026. The museum's September 28 notice gives the Dunhuang show a different English title, "An Unexpected Encounter: Buddhist Manuscripts from Dunhuang in the National Museum of Korea"; this page uses the home-page title. The news reports about a recent high-profile donation to the museum were not checked against a museum notice, so they are left out.
FAQ
Is the National Museum of Korea free? The permanent galleries, the Children's Museum and free special exhibitions are free. Paid special exhibitions need a ticket. None is running between October 26 and November 26, 2026; Birth of Modern Art opens on November 27.
Is it open on Mondays? Yes, except the first Monday of March, June, September and December, when the galleries close.
When does the Monet and Picasso exhibition open? Birth of Modern Art, from the Kunsthaus Zürich collection, runs from November 27, 2026 to April 18, 2027. Early-bird tickets cost 12,000 won.
Can I buy a special exhibition ticket online on the day? No. Online sales end the day before; on the day, buy at the museum.
AI 일러스트 · AI-generated illustration (background scene). Card facts: hangeul.go.kr · much.go.kr · sejongpac.or.kr Image generated with Canva Magic Media (background scene) for illustration purposes. Last checked: 2026-10-21 (exhibition page, host museum and Sejong Story page opened again) · Sources: Ministry of Culture, October 6 press release on the ceremony · National Hangeul Museum, Hangul Hanmadang notice · National Hangeul Museum, closure notice · National Hangeul Museum, 2026 Year of Hangeul · 100th-anniversary exhibition page · National Museum of Korean Contemporary History · Sejong Center, Sejong Story visitor information · Ministry of the Interior, 2025 Hangul Day ceremony notice · Gwanghwamun Square event calendar · Korea AeroSpace Administration, 2026 calendar notice · What changed recently: the exhibition opened on October 2 and its page still gives February 9, 2027 as the last day, with the same hours and closure days; this update adds the page's rule that...
Image generated with Gemini 3.1 Flash Image for illustration purposes. Last checked: 2026-10-24 (KST) · Sources: AREX press release on the extra express runs, posted Oct 21, 2026 · AREX express timetable · AREX delay notice, Oct 14, 2026 · Incheon Airport Seoul late-night bus page · What changed recently: from Thursday, October 23 the non-stop express between Incheon Airport and Seoul Station runs 56 times a day instead of 52, with the extra trains placed between 11:00 and 18:00. AREX says the all-stop timetable was partly reset to fit them. Separately, AREX has warned since October 14 that all-stop trains may run late during a union work-to-rule action.
Comments
Post a Comment