Structural Safety Inspection to Be Conducted
80,000 Collection Items to Be Relocated to the National Museum of Korea
Appointment and Deployment of Safety Manager
As a follow-up measure after the fire that occurred on the 1st at the National Hangeul Museum (Hangeul Museum) located in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, approximately 80,000 collection items stored and managed in the Hangeul Museum's storage will be relocated to the storage of the National Museum of Korea.
According to the emergency recovery and national heritage safety management plan announced by the Hangeul Museum on the 3rd, the museum plans to determine the scope and schedule of construction after investigating the cause of the fire and conducting a detailed structural safety inspection by an external specialized institution. The approximately 80,000 collection items currently stored and managed in the storage will also have a dispersal plan established and will be safely and systematically managed in consultation with related institutions such as the National Museum of Korea.
Earlier, on the day of the fire, 257 items from 26 nationally designated cultural heritages were moved and secured in the storage of the National Museum of Korea. About 9,000 items were relocated to the National Folk Museum of Korea.
Furthermore, during future restoration and expansion construction, a safety manager will be appointed and deployed to strengthen safety management, and safety measures such as safety education and on-site inspections will also be prepared. A Hangeul Museum official stated, “According to the Enforcement Decree of the Industrial Safety and Health Act, appointing a safety manager is not mandatory for construction projects under 5 billion KRW, but it was decided to appoint one to strengthen management.”
Kang Jeong-won, director of the National Hangeul Museum, expressed, “We sincerely apologize for causing concern to the public due to this fire,” and added, “We will do our best to recover from the fire damage and ensure the safety management of cultural heritage.”
Meanwhile, the fire occurred around 8:40 a.m. on the 1st at the museum’s expansion construction site. Although there were no casualties due to the fire, the Hangeul Playground (approximately 576㎡) on the 3rd floor of the Hangeul Museum and the corridor were damaged. The exact cause of the accident is under investigation by the police and related agencies, and damage caused by firefighting water used to extinguish the fire is also being assessed.
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