Yonhap Korean News Agency.The National Museum of Korea has never had its

own building in its 60-year history. It has moved six times since it was established at the
now-demolished former headquarters of the Japanese colonial government in
downtown Seoul in 1945, the same year that Japan's colonization of Korea,
which began in 1910, ended.

After moving between ancient palaces and government buildings, the museum
returned to the former Japanese building in the middle of the 1980s but was
again forced to move to one of its annexes in 1995, when the main building
was demolished as part of Seoul's campaign to eliminate its colonial legacy.

The government closed the temporary venue late last year to prepare for its
relocation to a 145,200-square-meter site near the U.S. military base in
Yongsan.

"There were mounting opinions in the early 1990s that the National Museum,
where all of the cultural heritage of our ancestors are preserved and
displayed, must have its own building free of colonial legacy," said Yang
Hee-gyeong, a museum spokeswoman. "We also needed far larger space to
accommodate the growing numbers of artifacts. The need for a permanent
building was the key motive for the relocation." The nation is now putting
the finishing touches on the new museum building slated to open in late
October.

"Construction of the new museum building is about 97.3 percent complete," Yi
Kun-moo, director of the museum, told reporters Wednesday. With the
construction of the main museum building and annexes already completed,
gardeners were planting trees in the grounds in front of the museum, built
on land previously used by U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) as a helicopter pad.

Once completed, the new museum is to house 11,000 historic relics in an
exhibition space of 27,000 square meters, or 19,800 square meters larger
than the former site inside Gyeongbok Palace.

"Eight years have passed since we broke the ground for the construction of
the museum in October 1997," Yi said. "I cannot hide my joy today as the end
of our long journey is only 100 days away." The new museum will be open for
regular hours on most weekdays from Oct. 28. The administrators plan to
grant free access to the museum from its opening until the end of the year.

Curators are still busy placing relics on display at exhibition halls. The
transfer of some 4,811 relics, including more than 100 listed national
treasures, from Gyeongbok Palace to Yongsan has been completed.

"Our goal is to wrap up this work by the month's end and have select users
and museum experts check for possible problems with the exhibition system
from August until early October," Yang said.

Three bulldozers destroyed a 350-meter-long wall at the main entrance of the
museum compound in an event to celebrate 100 days remaining until the
opening. The gray brick wall had existed since U.S. troops began using the
compound as its main base 60 years ago.

South Korea recovered the 30,000-square-meter helipad site from the USFK in
May. The military facility was relocated to areas between the U.S. base and
the South Korean Defense Ministry compound, only a few hundred meters away.

"The event symbolizes the 'open museum' that we have pursued," Yi said. To
this end, the museum compound was designed to have no walls. He said making
the museum a place for conveying new knowledge and delighting the people is
what he and the other museum officials have aimed for.

The museum said it will run 26 educational programs for adults,
underprivileged people and children, assisted by as many as 583 volunteer
workers, to put a friendly face on the institution.

In order to ensure easy access for the general public, the museum is
consulting with the Seoul metropolitan government to have additional bus
routes pass by the museum and more road signs indicating the way to it.
Discussions are also being held over changing the name of nearby Ichon
Station, on subway line number four, to increase public awareness of the
museum's new location.

The museum is expected to be more than just a museum -- it will also house a
craft store, a theater, restaurants and cafes. A variety of cultural
performances, including ballet, contemporary dance and classical and
traditional Korean music, will be staged at the museum around the opening
month to boost the festive mood, museum officials said. Jazz and pop music
concerts are also being prepared for December, they added.