[2025 Audit] Thirteen National Museums Focused on Visual Impairment Facilities... Developmental Disability Support 'Almost Nonexistent'

Assemblywoman Son Sol: "Only Chuncheon and Jeju Have More Than Ten Support Facilities"
Just 1% of National Museum Exhibits Are Tactile Models

Yonhap News Agency

Support facilities for visitors with disabilities at thirteen affiliated museums under the National Museum of Korea are heavily focused on visual impairments, with support for those with hearing or developmental disabilities found to be severely lacking. Only two institutions-the National Jinju Museum and the National Jeju Museum-were equipped with facilities that cater equally to both visually and hearing-impaired visitors.

According to data from the National Museum of Korea released on October 21 by Assemblywoman Son Sol of the National Assembly’s Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee, most affiliated museums were also insufficiently equipped with facilities for visitors with visual impairments. Only three museums-the National Gwangju Museum, the National Chuncheon Museum, and the National Jinju Museum-had applied at least one method among tactile exhibits, braille, or audio descriptions throughout their exhibitions. The remaining affiliated museums had fewer than ten support facilities, or operated them only in limited exhibition areas.

In particular, tactile exhibits were concentrated in children's galleries or special exhibitions, limiting the overall experience for visitors with visual impairments. At the National Museum of Korea, only seventy out of 5,512 exhibits were models designed for the visually impaired, accounting for just about 1% of the total. Support for sign language interpretation for hearing-impaired visitors was also limited. While the National Jeju Museum, the National Chuncheon Museum, and the National Jinju Museum each provided more than fifty instances of such support, most other affiliated museums offered only one or two, or none at all.

The most vulnerable area was support for visitors with developmental disabilities. Only the National Chuncheon Museum and the National Jeju Museum had more than ten support facilities, while the rest had virtually none. Although the National Chuncheon Museum had as many as 288 facilities for visually impaired visitors, support facilities for those with developmental disabilities were extremely limited, highlighting an urgent need to improve overall accessibility.

While the National Museum of Korea had relatively more facilities than its affiliated museums, the gap with regional museums was significant. The number of support facilities for visually impaired visitors was about twenty-four times higher than the most equipped affiliated museum, and support for hearing-impaired visitors was more than four times greater. In contrast, the number of facilities for developmental disabilities was actually two fewer than the maximum among affiliated museums.

Management of usage statistics was also inadequate. Of the National Museum of Korea and its thirteen affiliated museums nationwide, only three-the National Museum of Korea, the National Gimhae Museum, and the National Naju Museum-kept records of the number of visitors with disabilities. Most institutions had no data on disabled visitors, making it impossible to set directions for improvement.

According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government's "2024 Survey on Citizens’ Enjoyment of Culture," the annual offline cultural and artistic experience rate for people with disabilities was 41.9% for those with physical disabilities, 27.1% for those with hearing impairments, and 23.3% for those with visual impairments. However, the rate for museum experiences was only 5.9%, 8.3%, and 6.0%, respectively. Museums were cited as the most inconvenient cultural and artistic spaces (30.6%), but were also the most frequently mentioned as "cultural activities they would like to visit again."

Assemblywoman Son pointed out, "People with disabilities have a strong desire to directly see and experience cultural heritage, but in reality, they are not sufficiently guaranteed these opportunities." The National Museum of Korea stated, "The museum must be a space where all visitors can equally enjoy culture," and added, "We will continue to expand support facilities tailored to various types of disabilities, including visual, hearing, and developmental disabilities."