Photo: A pin of mythical tiger and bird, sold at the National Museum. Credit: the National Museum of Korea.
Given the global popularity of K-pop, the success of Netflix’s K-Pop Demon Hunters may not have been a complete surprise - but few could have foreseen the surge of interest in the National Museum of Korea 국립중앙박물관 that followed the hit animated movie.
Buoyed by K-Pop Demon Hunters’ use of traditional depictions of mythical animals, grim reapers and ancient spirits, the number of visitors to the National Museum exploded to nearly 700k in July, more than double the number of visitors in July 2024. The National Museum of Korea was already the 8th most-visited museum in the world as of 2024. With the number of visitors growing by over 70% year-over-year, the National Museum is projected to receive around 6m visitors this year, putting it in the company of the British Museum in London and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
The jump in interest has translated into a boom in merchandise sales at the National Museum, where the number of daily visitors to the museum’s online store jumped from 7k to 600k following the release of K-Pop Demon Hunters. The most popular items, such as a pin featuring a mythical tiger and bird, are frequently sold out, and sell on secondary markets at a 10x markup. During the recent state visit by Vietnam’s leader, First Lady Ngo Phuong Ly also visited the National Museum, braving the crowd at the museum store to buy a beach towel patterned after a king’s robe from the Joseon Dynasty 조선왕조.
