Veteran curator named state museum director

A longtime curator with a career spanning close to two decades at the National Museum of Korea has been tapped to lead the state-run museum with the largest collection in the country.

Kim Jae-hong was an NMK curator from 1993 to 2012. He left the museum following a five-month directorship at the Chuncheon National Museum -- one of 13 regional museums under the NMK.

Since September 2012, the 59-year-old Kim, who has a Ph.D. in Korean history from Seoul National University, has been a Korean history professor at Kookmin University in Seoul.

Kim is versed in not only Korean history, but also museum operations, qualifying him to oversee the NMK, according to President Yoon Suk Yeol’s office.

Ramping up outreach to global audiences is one priority facing the new NMK director. A joint exhibition with the Denver Art Museum in Colorado is currently underway, with another with both the Tokyo National Museum and the National Museum of China set to open this month.