Korea House was founded in 1957 as a cultural complex with the aim of introducing Korea’s traditional lifestyle and culture to the general public, and as a traditional cultural experience space. The house of Park Paeng-nyeon, who was a scholar of the Jiphyeonjeon (Hall of Worthies) during the reign of King Sejong of the Joseon Dynasty, and one of the six martyred ministers executed in 1456, used to be located in the area. In addition, the residence of a commissioner of the Governor-General of Korea during the Japanese Colonial Rule, and the house of the commander of the 8th U.S. Army in Korea, James A. Van Fleet, during the Korean War, were also situated in the area. After the establishment of Korea House by the presidential Public Affairs Office in June 1957, it was used as a place where foreign soldiers could spend their leave and experience Korean traditional culture. It was equipped with recreational facilities such as table tennis tables, billiard tables, a library, and a music room at that time. In 1980 the building was entirely renovated under the supervision of Chief Carpenter Sin Eung-su, the holder of an Important Intangible Cultural Heritage (Daemokjang), and was reopened as a traditional Korean structure modeled on Jagyeongjeon Hall of Gyeongbokgung Palace in 1981. Its main Korean traditional structures (hanok), including the Main Hall, Munhyangru, Nokeumjeong, and Cheongujeong, have retained their unique Korean beauty. Korea House also serves as a cultural complex that organizes traditional art performances, traditional wedding ceremonies, and traditional cultural experience programs, and sells traditional court foods. Since its reopening in 1981, Korea House has staged around 16,000 traditional art performances and musical dramas seen by over 1,600,000 people from all around the world (as of 2013). Furthermore, members of the public can have a traditional or civil wedding ceremony in the grounds of one the hanok. Korea House also runs diverse traditional culture experience programs including traditional Korean cooking (kimchi, rice cakes, etc.), traditional handcraft experience (hanji or Korean traditional paper, knotting, and mask making), samul nori (traditional percussion quartet), dance, and taekkyeon. In January 2008, Korea House was selected as one of the best 100 traditional Korean restaurants by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

• location 10, Toegye-ro 34-gil, Jung-gu, Seoul (80-2 Pil-dong 2-ga)