Theater Yong at the National Museum of Korea: 805 seats, and 4,000 won to park

Searching for a musical at the National Museum of Korea throws up three questions at once: how many seats, whether you pay to get into the museum, and what parking costs. Performances are held in Theater Yong (극장 용), a separate hall beside the main museum building, and the answers sit in three different organisations’ documents. Here they are together.

How many seats does Theater Yong have?

805. That is 538 in the stalls plus 267 on the second floor, with eight wheelchair spaces included in the 538. The National Museum Foundation’s official seating-plan page states "Theater Yong seat count: 805", and the same foundation’s introduction to the hall calls it "a professional venue of 805 seats (including 8 accessible seats)".

Our own data adds a third check. The KOPIS facility record (FC000008) also gives 805 seats and separately records 8 accessible seats. The venue, the foundation and KOPIS agree on both numbers.

The figure of 862 that circulates widely online appears in neither official source. The two floors add to 805, which is also the registered value. Use 805 when you are judging the size of the house.

How are the stalls laid out?

Twenty lettered rows, A to T, with a wheelchair row U behind them. The eight wheelchair spaces are split four on each side of row U.

Two things in the official plan’s footnotes are worth knowing before you book. First, the sound console sits behind seats 10 to 18 of row T — so the centre of the back row does not have open space behind it. Second, row U is built as wheelchair space and is therefore not laid out like a normal row.

The doors are split between the middle of the house and the back. Mid-house you have 100-1 and 100-2 on the left and 105-1 and 105-2 on the right; at the back, 101 to 104. If you are running late, the rear doors are the closer ones.

Where does the second floor’s centre section start?

At row E. The second floor has thirteen rows, A to M, but the first four have no centre block at all — only seats 1 to 3 on the left and 25 to 27 on the right, six seats per row. The centre numbers, 10 to 18, only begin at row E.

The arithmetic confirms it: rows A to D at six seats each is 24, rows E to M — nine rows at 27 — is 243, and 24 plus 243 is 267, exactly the second-floor total the foundation publishes.

The practical consequence is clear. Booking rows A to D hoping for "the front of the balcony" gets you a side position, not a view down the centre. If you want to face the stage from the second floor, look at row E and behind.

What does parking cost?

If you are attending a performance at Theater Yong, 4,000 won. It is a flat rate regardless of how long you stay, applied either by paying in advance at the machine inside the theatre or by showing your ticket on the way out. Both the museum’s parking page and the foundation’s transport-and-parking page state the same condition.

For everyone else, the standard rates:

One discrepancy is worth flagging. The two official sites label the same rate card differently: the museum’s parking page calls that 1,000 won the first 60 minutes, while the foundation’s page calls it the first 30 minutes. The museum operates the car park, so its own labelling is the one to trust — and in any case performance-goers pay the flat 4,000 won, so the difference does not affect them. If you are visiting for another reason, check the actual amount at the payment machine before leaving.

Leaving within 20 minutes of entry is free, and if you do not leave within 20 minutes of paying, charging resumes. The gates close at 23:00.

How many spaces are there, and what if it is full?

754 indoor and 149 outdoor. Of the 754 indoor spaces only the 522 on level B1 are for visitors; the 132 on the first floor and 100 on the second are staff parking.

The two sites disagree on the large-vehicle count outdoors: the museum says 75 of the 149, the foundation says 78. If you are coming by coach, confirm with the museum on 02-2077-9000.

From July 2026 you can also reach the Yongsan Children’s Garden car park through the large-vehicle lot. The museum itself advises that "parking is limited, please use public transport", and the foundation adds that lateness caused by traffic is not grounds for a same-day cancellation, change or refund.

Do I have to pay to enter the National Museum of Korea?

As of September 2026, no — the permanent galleries are free and need no reservation. The Children’s Museum and free special exhibitions are also free, though the Children’s Museum runs in timed sessions (09:30~17:20) that must be booked. Paid special exhibitions are priced individually, with tickets sold at the desk in front of Special Exhibition Hall 1 until 30 minutes before closing.

A Theater Yong ticket is entirely separate from museum admission. It does not cover a paid special exhibition, and you do not need one to enter the museum.

On the question of charging, the position is precisely this. On 30 March 2026 news reports said the museum will move to paid admission from 2027, with the price not yet decided. But as of September 2026 the admission line on the museum’s own visitor-information page still reads "free". Check the official page again close to your visit.

What are the opening hours and closure days?

They depend on the day. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday: 09:30~17:30, last entry 17:00. Wednesday and Saturday: 09:30~21:00, last entry 20:30. If you want to see the galleries before an evening performance, Wednesday or Saturday is the only option.

The 2026 closure days are 1 January, Seollal (Tuesday 17 February) and Chuseok (Friday 25 September). Separately, the permanent galleries and Special Exhibition Halls 1 and 2 close on the first Monday of March, June, September and December each year — in 2026 that means 1 June, 7 September and 7 December, with no March closure. The outdoor grounds stay open on those days.

When and where do I collect performance tickets?

On the day, from one hour before the performance, at the Box Office in the Theater Yong lobby. Bring photo ID or your booking details.

The cancellation deadline is stricter than most: 5pm the day before, or 11am if that day is a Saturday. Bookings made after that, or on the day itself, cannot be cancelled, changed or refunded. Enquiries go to 1544-5955, open daily 09:00~18:00 with a break from 12:00 to 13:00.

How do I walk there from the subway?

Ichon Station, exit 2, on Line 4 and the Gyeongui-Jungang Line — but you need not come up to the street. An underground passage called the Museum Nadeulgil (박물관 나들길) runs from the exit 2 side to the museum’s west gate, open 07:00~23:00 and closed when the museum is. On a wet day, or in high summer or deep winter, it is much the better route. Lifts are at Ichon Station exit 1 and on the passage by exit 2.

By bus, trunk routes 400 and 502 stop at "National Museum of Korea, Yongsan Family Park".

From other lines, change to Ichon: Line 1 at Yongsan, Line 3 at Oksu, Line 6 at Samgakji, Line 7 at Chongshin University (Isu), Line 9 at Dongjak.

Can I take a bag into the theatre?

The museum asks visitors to put backpacks in the ground-floor lockers. It has also operated a security screening point since 11 June 2024, so bags are checked on the way in. Factor both into your arrival time if you do not want to be rushing for curtain.

Inside the Theater Yong auditorium, photography, phone use and food and drink are all prohibited.

In short

1. Theater Yong has 805 seats — 538 in the stalls (eight of them wheelchair spaces) plus 267 upstairs — and the foundation’s seating plan and the KOPIS record agree. 862 appears in no official source.
2. Second-floor rows A to D hold only three seats on each side. For a centred view from upstairs, book row E or behind.
3. Show a Theater Yong ticket and parking is a flat 4,000 won however long you stay; pay in advance at the machine inside the theatre.

Figures here were checked in September 2026 against the National Museum of Korea parking guide, its visitor-information and directions pages, the National Museum Foundation of Korea pages for Theater Yong — introduction, seating plan, booking guide and transport and parking — and the KOPIS facility record (FC000008). The museum switchboard is 02-2077-9000; Theater Yong bookings 1544-5955.