South Korea's Korean Essence exhibition promotes traditional crafts for global markets
South Korea’s First Lady Kim Hye-kyung attended the opening of a government-sponsored exhibition of traditional crafts, titled Korean Essence, at Culture Station Seoul 284 in central Seoul. The event, organized by the Public Procurement Service, is part of a government effort to promote traditional cultural goods as government procurement products and to broaden their market reach.
The exhibition showcases 213 items, including hanbok and minhwa, to highlight the excellence of Korea’s traditional crafts and to expand sales channels through public procurement. The display is housed in Seoul’s Culture Station Seoul 284, a multifaceted cultural venue in Jung-gu.
While touring the show, Kim paused at Park Hae-do’s Time-Traveling Turtle Ship sculpture. The artist explained that the piece had been commissioned by the government to be sent as a gift to President Donald Trump during last year’s summit with President-elect Lee Jae-myung, but the deadline was not met; Kim responded with a smile and a brief nod, saying “Next time.”
Kim also viewed Ok Hyung-shin’s ceramic work Magpie Tiger, remarking that the piece reinterprets a tiger—typically depicted as fierce in folk art—into a more approachable, friendly form. At Kim Kyung-hee’s Ten Symbols of Longevity, onlookers joked about hanging a similar piece in the Blue House, a remark Kim led with a light quip that the presidential residence already houses a Ten Longevity screen but that this work feels more three-dimensional.
Regarding Kim Eun-mi’s lacquerware, including pieces such as Metaphor, Kim Hye-kyung noted that while black lacquer is beautiful, colored designs stand out more and feel almost painterly. In viewing Han Sang-bong’s Gyeongin Sign Sword, she even weighed the piece herself and expressed appreciation for the artist’s lifetime of dedication, saying, “Thank you for your lifelong devotion.”
The opening ceremony featured a performance by renowned gugak singer Jang Sa-ik, with the First Lady rising to applaud at the end of the set. Also present were prominent figures including former National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo, Kim Gyo-heung, chairman of the National Assembly’s Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee, and Kang Seong-min, the Public Procurement Service’s deputy administrator.
In her remarks during the ceremony, Kim emphasized that the global appeal of K-culture has sparked growing interest in Korea’s traditional arts and goods. She highlighted that such exhibitions enable people to experience and purchase culturally rich products, and she hoped the event would motivate artisans to produce even stronger works in the future.
For international readers, the event illustrates how South Korea leverages government procurement to bolster its cultural industries and export potential. Since 1999, the Public Procurement Service designates select traditional crafts as government procurement cultural products, distributing them through the national e-market, NaraJangteo. The Korean Essence exhibition demonstrates the range of crafts—from hanbok and minhwa to lacquerware—that Koreans view as the country’s cultural “essence,” and it signals how these goods could find buyers beyond Korea, including museums, retailers, and cultural institutions in the United States.