Tours of Korean historical sites to start in US

Free tours of the Old Korean Legation building in Washington will be offered to the public starting next week, aimed at raising awareness of the Korean historical site.

The Cultural Heritage Administration said Thursday a shuttle bus will take participants from Washington, Virginia and Maryland to the building on Wednesdays and Saturdays during the second week of every month from February to November.

The agency turned the legation into a museum in 2018 after acquiring it in 2012 to preserve it as an overseas cultural heritage site. Of 30 such sites in the US, the legation building is the only place the agency legally owns.

The CHA will offer free tours between May and October, taking participants to other Korea-related sites in the US capital and neighboring regions.

They include the Korean Embassy, the Korean War Veterans Memorial, the Statue of Seo Jae-pil, a Korean independence activist, and an exhibition about Seo as an early Korean American Christian in the Faith and Liberty Discovery Center -- plus the Plays & Players Theater, site of the first “Korean Congress.”