The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said Thursday it had appointed Seo Seung-mi, 56, a professor of music education at Kyungin National University of Education, as the new director of the National Gugak Center. The new director's term is two years. The appointment fills the leadership vacuum at the National Gugak Center exactly two years after the previous director left upon completing his term on June 9, 2024.
However, controversy over the identity of the National Gugak Center continues. According to the arts community, the position of National Gugak Center director was monopolized by graduates of Seoul National University's Korean traditional music department for 30 years from 1995 to 2024. Various measures were pursued over that period to break the monopoly of a particular institution, but they ultimately failed.
Early last year, an attempt was made to appoint a senior Culture Ministry official who, while not a so-called "traditional gugak practitioner," possessed expertise in culture and the arts, but the effort fell through due to opposition from existing stakeholders. There is growing criticism that, in order to resolve factions within the gugak community and foster the "gugak industry," management ability is needed in addition to qualities in the fine arts. As expected, the newly appointed director Seo is also a graduate of Seoul National University's Korean traditional music department, so the era of the university department's monopoly continues.
According to the Culture Ministry, new director Seo Seung-mi studied at Seoul National University's Korean traditional music department and the same university's graduate school, and received a doctorate in the philosophy of art from Sungkyunkwan University. She currently serves as a professor of music education at Kyungin National University of Education. She was elected president of the Korean Society for Gugak Education in 2026 and is active as a daegeum performer. The National Gugak Center, established in 1951, maintains branch offices in Namwon, Jindo, and Busan in addition to its main center in Seoul, and pursues gugak performances, research, and gugak education projects.
After presenting the letter of appointment that day, Culture Minister Choi Hwi-young said, "I expect that new director Seo Seung-mi, drawing on the rich experience and leadership in communication she has built in the field as a gugak educator and performer, will steadily lead the National Gugak Center and contribute to the promotion and revitalization of gugak," the Culture Ministry said.
