The National Museum of Korea, the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art and dozens of other famous public museums will be open for couples to hold wedding ceremonies, as a part of the government’s support to lessen financial burden on young people planning to get married.
The measure comes as the country is pondering over ways to encourage young people to get married and subsequently to pull up the birthrate.
“We will open museums, art galleries and other popular exhibition venues run by the government and public organizations as wedding halls,” Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Choi Sang-mok said during a meeting of economy-related ministers in Seoul, Wednesday. The announcement came as Korea experienced a 40 percent fall in marriages from 2013 to 2023 amid increased living costs, relatively low salaries and other reasons bearing on personal finances.
Consequently, the country has continued topping its own record of the world’s lowest fertility rate, which was 0.72 in 2023. More than 120 public buildings across the nation are currently operated as affordable wedding halls. But couples in their common age range for marriage shy away from these venues, as they offer little in the way of romantic and sentimental value.
Among the public buildings that will be newly offered as wedding venues are the National Library of Korea and the National Folk Museum of Korea.
Main Image :National Museum of Korea
Anna Melnykova, "Palace of Labor (palats praci), architector I. Pretro, 1916", shot with analog Canon camera, 35 mm Fuji film in March 2022.
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