Busan National University Museum Selected for Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism's University Museum Promotion Support Project

Special Joint Exhibition Planned and Promoted for the 80th Anniversary of Liberation

Busan National University Museum (President Choi Jaewon) announced on the 13th that it has been selected for the '2025 University Museum Advancement Support Project' by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

The 'University Museum Advancement Support Project' is organized by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and supervised by the Korea University Museum Association. The project aims to expand opportunities for the public to enjoy culture and arts by revitalizing the cultural and artistic functions of university museums, and to provide cultural welfare and educational benefits to local residents and youth with university museums as cultural hubs. This year, the project will be carried out under the theme 'University Museums as Cultural Powerhouses Opening Future Values.'

This project seeks to promote balanced regional cultural development by utilizing university museums located throughout major regions of Korea, thereby alleviating the concentration of cultural events in Seoul and pursuing equity in cultural enjoyment and equal access to cultural welfare. University museums, as repositories of humanities within universities, serve as bases for this important project, presenting diverse themes such as exhibitions, education, academic activities, and collaborations.

In celebration of the 80th anniversary of Liberation this year, the Busan National University Museum was selected for this project by planning a special joint exhibition, 'Gwanbu Trial and the Unfinished Her Story of Kim Moonsook,' which aims to go beyond a simple commemoration of the past and serve as a new leap toward the future.

The Gwanbu Trial refers to the court case held between Shimonoseki in Japan and Busan, where, for the first time, a Japanese court recognized the Japanese government's wrongdoing regarding the Japanese military 'comfort women.'

Through the life story of the late Kim Moonsook (1927-2021), a leading women's rights activist in Busan and former chairperson of the Busan Council for Countermeasures against the Comfort Women Issue, who inspired the film Herstory (2018), the museum will inform citizens about the still unresolved modern and contemporary issues between Japan and Korea, as well as the history of women's movements and civic activities centered in Busan. This will be accomplished through special exhibitions, academic conferences, and various educational activities, allowing citizens to reflect on their significance.

This project will receive government support of 81 million KRW and will be led mainly by the Busan National University Museum and Changwon National University Museum. Active support from the Busan Museum of National and Women's History and the Japan Gwanbu Trial Support Association, as well as academic cooperation with the Changwon University Center for Sustainable Development, the Busan National University Institute of National Culture, and the Institute for Women's Studies, is also planned.

Lim Sangtaek (Professor of Archaeology), Director of the Busan National University Museum, said, "On the meaningful occasion of the 80th anniversary of Liberation, we aim to reflect on unresolved historical events such as the comfort women and labor mobilization through the noble life of the late Chairperson Kim Moonsook, who was a leading figure in the human rights movement in Busan for many years."