"Korea has been a cultural shareholder nation with a rightful stake in East Asian cultural history," said Yoo Hong-june, director of the National Museum of Korea.
A large audience gathered at the special forum "Pixel & Paint," part of "Seoul Forum 2026" held at the Yeongbinguan of Shilla Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul, on Tuesday, seeking answers to the question of why the world is now enthusiastic about Korean culture. Speakers at the event agreed that today's K-culture is not a sudden trend but "the modern manifestation of Korean sentiment, aesthetics and craftsmanship accumulated over thousands of years."
Delivering the first keynote address, Yoo traced Korean cultural history from prehistoric times through the Joseon Dynasty, stressing that "we have never once fallen behind in technology or aesthetics throughout world cultural history." He added, "Looking at crafts such as Baekje's Gilt-bronze Incense Burner and Goryeo celadon featuring inlay techniques, K-culture had already held a substantial cultural stake in East Asia long ago."
Yoo described Baekje's culture in particular as one that respected artisans. He cited as an example the bracelet of a queen discovered in the Tomb of King Muryeong, which bears the name of its craftsman engraved on it. Of the Silla Pensive Bodhisattva, he said, "It carries a subtle smile distinct from the Buddhist statues of China, Japan and India," praising it as "a work that demonstrates how advanced Korean sculpture had become around 600 B.C."
The craftsmanship embodied in Baekje's Gilt-bronze Incense Burner, Silla's Pensive Bodhisattva and the Sacred Bell of Great King Seongdeok continues today through the so-called "Muds" boom — the official brand of the National Museum of Korea, combining the words "museum" and "goods." According to organizers, those who seek out miniatures of the Pensive Bodhisattva, magpie-and-tiger goods and moon jars receive them not as mere souvenirs but as crafts reinterpreting Korean aesthetics. Last year, the National Museum of Korea recorded 6.5 million visitors, ranking third in the world, while museum merchandise sales surpassed 40 billion won.
In a congratulatory address, Kim Young-soo, first vice minister of culture, sports and tourism, who attended the event, emphasized, "Korean culture has now become a daily-life culture woven into the everyday lives of people around the world," adding that "Korean culture is a core growth industry for Korea's future."
Kim Mi-kyung, head of the merchandise business division at the National Museum Foundation of Korea and known as the "mother of Muds," noted, "When we reinterpreted the stories of cultural heritage in a modern way, artifacts became a matter of taste and began forming a market." Indeed, Muds not only develops products in-house but also discovers external products and collaborates with citizens to develop their ideas — meaning the craftsmanship of Baekje is being carried on today through the "K-goods" ecosystem.
Keum Ki-sook, co-director of Yoogeum Wadang Museum and a pioneer of Korean fashion art, presented "swaying" and "trembling" as the core elements of Korean aesthetics. Her dress series, which has come to symbolize her artistic world — luminous forms made by twisting discarded wire and attaching scraps of fabric or beads — was also inspired by the movement of traditional ornaments. "Korean clothing as a whole, from norigae and tassel ornaments that sway with every movement to the broad sweep of skirts, embodies an aesthetic of motion and rhythm," Keum said. "Through this, it conveys vitality and an uplifting spirit." Olga Korol, a Ukrainian fashion design student who attended the event, said, "I was captivated by the beauty created when Korea's unique aesthetic meets the modern medium of the dress. I want to refer to this when working on combining elements of differing characters."
Park Seung-ho, chairman of the Park Seo-bo Foundation, who delivered the second keynote address, presented another axis of Korean sentiment through the artistic world of his late father, painter Park Seo-bo. He cited "emptying, repetition, endurance and reduction" as the core keywords of Park Seo-bo's art, recalling, "Park Seo-bo spent his lifetime emptying himself, but that emptiness led to an aesthetic that is at once the most Korean and the most universal."
