In this blog post, based on my firsthand experience visiting Sonagi Village at the Hwang Sun-won Literary Village in Yangpyeong, I will examine the challenges facing regional literary museums in South Korea and, by comparing them with examples from abroad, reflect on the direction these museums should take in the future.

The Literary Space I Experienced at Hwang Sun-won Literary Village’s Sonagi Village

Located in Yangpyeong County, Gyeonggi Province, Hwang Sun-won Literary Village’s Sonagi Village is a place I briefly stopped by a few years ago during an autumn trip to Yangpyeong. To be honest, I didn’t even know such a place existed and didn’t have any particular expectations. However, once I actually visited, it turned out to be better than I had anticipated, making it a place that has stayed with me. Sonagi Village is a literary theme park jointly established by Yangpyeong County and Kyung Hee University to honor the life and literary spirit of author Hwang Sun-won. The site features the Hwang Sun-won Literature Museum, where visitors can explore the author’s life and literary world, as well as exhibition spaces introducing his major works. It also offers a literary walking trail and interactive spaces themed around the novel ‘Sonagi’. At Sonagi Plaza within the village, visitors can experience artificial rain—one of the spaces designed to bring the atmosphere of the novel ‘Sonagi’ to life. With stepping stones that evoke the scene where the boy and girl conversed, as well as areas recreating settings from the novel, visiting the site gave me the distinct feeling of seeing scenes from the story unfold before my eyes. In particular, the “Digital Sonagi Walk”—a video experience center utilizing immersive content—opened in 2021, allowing visitors to experience literary works more directly. Since this was my first time visiting a literary theme park, it felt very refreshing, and because it was better organized than I had expected, it remains a fond memory.
My experience at Sonagi Village was new and enjoyable, but it also gave me a lot to think about. One thought that came to mind was that it would be great if more places like this—fresh and well-designed—were created and widely publicized, but why isn’t that happening? In fact, literary spaces such as literary villages have already been established in many parts of South Korea. However, in some cases, they aren’t widely known to the public or aren’t fully thriving due to various issues related to operations, finances, and promotion. Of course, it’s not possible to generalize these issues to all regional literary museums, but such problems have been repeatedly pointed out at some of them. In fact, a 2021 study surveying the websites of domestic literary museums found that while a significant number of member institutions of the Korean Literary Museum Association operated websites, there was a lack of uniformity in the classification criteria and catalog information for literary content, and the online provision of literary materials was not sufficiently active.

Why is it that, despite the increase in the number of regional literary museums, they remain underutilized?

Since the 1990s, as local autonomy and culture have become major policy goals for national development, interest in regional culture has gradually grown. Recently, interest in the establishment and revitalization of regional literary museums has also increased. This is because literary museums, which focus on writers and works related to a specific region, are particularly well-suited to fostering local culture compared to other cultural facilities. Furthermore, as they not only boost the pride of local literary figures but also attract the interest of readers, an increasing number of literary museums have been established. Since the 2000s, both the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and local governments have recognized the importance of regional literary museums and have provided support. However, since the figures for the number of regional literary museums and planned establishments presented in past data do not accurately reflect the current situation, it is difficult to accept past figures such as “about 70” or “115 to be established by 2019” as representing the current number of literary museums. Recently, the National Museum of Korean Literature has been promoting collaborative projects with regional literary museums, and policy initiatives to support and connect these institutions continue, including a results briefing session in 2025 on projects to revitalize and support regional literary museums.
So why is it that, even with so many regional literary museums established, people are largely unaware of them, and they remain underutilized? We can explore the causes by examining several examples of regional literary museums in South Korea. The first place we’ll look at is the Toji Cultural Center, located in Wonju, Gangwon Province. The Toji Cultural Center is a cultural and arts space operated by the Toji Cultural Foundation, which has served as a creative space for writers and artists from both Korea and abroad. Even today, the Toji Cultural Foundation continues to provide studios to domestic and international artists through the Toji Cultural Center; in 2025 alone, it provided studios to a total of 54 writers and artists from Korea and abroad. Therefore, as pointed out in a previous article, viewing the Toji Cultural Center simply as a space that fails to fulfill its intended functions does not align with the current reality. However, providing sufficient information online so that people can easily find and take an interest in local literary museums remains an important challenge. In fact, a 2021 study on the websites of domestic literary museums found that while the rate of website establishment was high, there was room for improvement in the systematic provision of literary information and the utilization of online resources.
Alongside these issues, one must also consider the problems of funding and operational staff. Past studies and case studies on regional literary museums have pointed to budget shortages as a factor hindering facility operations and program development. Insufficient operating funds can limit the ability to develop new programs for local residents, hire specialized staff, or expand promotional activities. In particular, since literary museums must go beyond simply exhibiting works to include researching authors and their works, preserving materials, and explaining and facilitating literary experiences for visitors, the role of specialized staff is crucial. The Baeksu Literature Museum in Gimcheon serves as a case in point. Currently managed and operated by Gimcheon City, the museum is mandated to collect and exhibit literary materials, preserve its collections, conduct research on the literary legacy of Mr. Jeong Wan-young, and provide literary education. In 2026, the Gimcheon City Facilities Management Corporation separately recruited support staff for the museum’s operations, demonstrating that personnel are being allocated to ensure its practical functioning. Therefore, rather than simply dismissing them—as was done in the past—as “spaces that merely host exhibitions due to a lack of proper support,” it is more appropriate to focus on the fact that securing operational resources and staff remains a critical challenge even today.
Geographical constraints may be among the factors hindering the revitalization of local literary museums. However, one of the most significant issues to consider is likely the shortage of operating funds and specialized personnel. Regional literary museums that do not receive sufficient support from local governments may attempt to generate revenue through admission fees, facility rentals, souvenir sales, the rental of lodging facilities or seminar rooms, and the sale of local specialty products. However, it is not easy to cover all facility maintenance costs, personnel expenses, and program operating costs with these revenues alone. Furthermore, without sufficient financial resources, it becomes difficult to hire professional staff, and there may be limitations in adequately introducing and guiding visitors about literary works and authors. Consequently, while diversifying programs and actively promoting them are essential for revitalizing regional literary museums, these efforts will inevitably face limitations if the necessary financial resources and personnel are lacking.

How are regional literary museums operated overseas?

So, what factors have enabled successful regional literary museums abroad to thrive and succeed? One notable difference compared to South Korea is the active participation of local residents. At some literary museums in France, private citizens take the lead in voluntarily forming clubs; these organizations participate directly in the museum’s operations and activities, serving as a bridge that connects local residents to the museum. This is because the role of local residents is crucial, given that regional literary museums are cultural spaces that maintain close ties with the local community. The Hemingway House Museum in the United States is another example where the participation of the local community and volunteers plays a vital role in maintaining the literary space. Furthermore, there are examples in Japan where local residents have taken an interest in and participated in the construction and operation of literary museums. In some cases, literary museums are built with donations from local residents, and residents voluntarily participate in their operation. The participation and support of these local residents and volunteers are aspects that regional literary museums in South Korea can draw upon.
What can be confirmed through the above overseas examples is that the active participation of local residents can play a crucial role in revitalizing regional literary museums. In South Korea, however, literary museums are sometimes established not so much out of the voluntary interest of local residents but rather for policy objectives aimed at promoting the region and attracting tourists. Of course, utilizing regional literary museums as tourist attractions is not wrong in itself, but if revitalization efforts focus solely on attracting tourists, they will eventually reach their limits. This is because a literary museum is not only a space for preserving and introducing local authors and their works but also a cultural space where local residents can engage with literature and participate directly. If, as is the case overseas, local residents take an interest and participate in the establishment and operation processes, and if sustained activities are carried out through organizations such as clubs or foundations, the likelihood that a literary museum will develop into a cultural space that coexists with the local community—rather than merely a tourist destination visited once and forgotten—will increase significantly. Furthermore, there are recent efforts to strengthen connections and cooperation among regional literary museums, such as the National Museum of Korean Literature promoting collaborative projects with regional literary museums and launching a pilot program to enable literary museums nationwide to jointly utilize a materials management system.

What direction should regional literary museums take in the future?

In modern times, the place of literature has been gradually shrinking. With the emergence of a wide variety of interesting content and people having less and less time to read books amid their busy daily lives, interest in literature has naturally declined. However, I believe that literature, as a culture that reflects the thoughts and circumstances of people who lived in a particular era, should be cherished. After visiting Sonagi Village, I thought that revitalizing regional literary museums like this could help expand the scope of literature a bit further, but in reality, some of these institutions are struggling to thrive due to various challenges. Of course, not all regional literary museums face the same issues; there are places like the Toseo Cultural Center and the Baeksu Literary Museum that continue to carry out activities such as supporting creative writing, hosting exhibitions and educational programs, and securing operational staff. Rather, I believe what is important is not merely establishing regional literary museums, but securing the financial resources and professional staff necessary for their sustained operation after establishment, and consistently developing programs that allow local residents and visitors to participate.
To revitalize regional literary museums, ongoing interest and support from the national and local governments are necessary. At the same time, examples from abroad show that these issues cannot be resolved through top-down support alone; bottom-up efforts are also required. If local residents take an active interest in the literary museums and participate in their programs and operations, the museums will be able to forge closer ties with the local community. Furthermore, literary museums need to evolve beyond being mere exhibition spaces into venues where education, hands-on experiences, creative writing, research, and local cultural activities all take place together. The recent trend of the National Museum of Korean Literature collaborating with regional literary museums and seeking to connect the exhibitions and activities of various regional literary museums aligns with this direction. The National Museum of Korean Literature was originally planned to open in the second half of 2026, but its official timeline has since been adjusted to completion in 2026 and an opening in 2027. If this national institution plays a central role in collaborating with regional literary museums across the country, it could help connect the resources and programs of these museums and assist in jointly resolving issues that individual museums would find difficult to address on their own.
It is also important to ensure that visitors to literary museums do not perceive literature as difficult or unfamiliar, but rather can directly experience authors and their works. The reason I enjoyed my visit to Sonagi Village was precisely because I could walk through and experience spaces that evoked scenes from the novel, rather than simply reading explanations about the work. Sonagi Village has even introduced immersive content to further enhance this experience. If literary museums can evolve beyond mere spaces for exhibiting an author’s life and works to become places where readers can directly experience the worlds within the works and develop an interest in literature, visitor engagement will likely increase even further.
Ultimately, revitalizing regional literary museums requires a combination of stable support from the national and local governments, securing professional staff, voluntary participation from local residents, developing diverse programs, and effective promotion and online information provision. It is difficult to solve the challenges facing regional literary museums with just one of these elements alone. The government and local authorities must provide support to ensure the sustainable operation of literary museums, while local residents should take an interest in the literature and culture of their region and participate in the museums’ activities. Literary museums, too, must actively engage with the local community based on this support and participation. If this happens, regional literary museums will be able to establish themselves not merely as tourist attractions bearing the names of famous authors, but as spaces that preserve a region’s memories and culture and foster new cultural expressions. Ultimately, I believe that if the South Korean government and local residents come to recognize the value of literature more deeply and cherish it, the revitalization of regional literary museums will lead to a broader recognition of literature’s significance.