The National Folk Museum of Korea is launching a major drive to acquire global folk materials and North Korean folk artifacts.
The National Folk Museum of Korea (Director Jang Sang-hoon), under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, announced Tuesday that it will accept submissions for its "First Public Acquisition of Collection Items for 2026" from May 28 to June 2. The public acquisition will focus on global and North Korean folk materials, and is open to private collectors, organizations and licensed cultural heritage dealers.
Ahead of the opening of its new Sejong branch in 2031, the museum has been expanding research and acquisition of global folk materials under the vision of "A Window Open to the World." The museum said the initiative is "part of efforts to move beyond Korea to jointly illuminate the lives and cultures of regions around the world, and to evolve into a museum encompassing the universal living culture of humanity."
Items sought include festival and ceremonial objects from around the world, costumes and accessories, materials related to folk games, dance and music, and traditional crafts. Rather than limiting the scope to specific countries or regions, the museum plans to broadly collect folk materials that reflect the everyday and communal cultures of various regions worldwide. Materials on daily life in North Korea include household goods, crafts, regional specialty products, clothing and everyday items that illustrate the daily lives and regional cultures of North Korean residents.
Submissions will be accepted via email, and final acquisition decisions will be made following a document review and three rounds of in-person evaluation. Further details are available on the National Folk Museum of Korea website.
