Adding Paper to Holes Every Day... Heritage Sites Suffer from Misbehaving Tourists

While the number of visitors to historic palaces and royal tombs has surged recently, a severe shortage of safety management personnel has led to a series of cultural heritage vandalisms.

According to data submitted by the National Heritage Administration to Democratic Party Representative Lee Jung-moon of the National Assembly's Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee today (October 1), the number of visitors to royal palaces and tombs nearly tripled from 6.7 million in 2021 to approximately 17.8 million last year.

On the other hand, the number of safety management personnel has remained in the 400s for five years, causing the number of staff per 10,000 visitors to plummet by more than half, from 0.6 in 2021 to 0.25 last year.

While the Palace and Tomb Headquarters stated that it is difficult to cope with the soaring number of visitors with limited personnel and budget, the lawmaker's office pointed out that the decrease in safety management personnel and the lack of punishment regulations are leading to loopholes in cultural heritage management.

According to the Gyeongbokgung Palace Management Office, 60% of the holes found in the paper windows of major palace halls such as Geunjeongjeon and Gyotaejeon are caused by visitor vandalism. However, because there are no regulations to punish such acts, the site is left with nothing more than patching up the paper every day.

With the proportion of foreign visitors increasing from 1% in 2021 to 24% in 2025, sanctions against foreigners who damage national heritage are not being properly implemented either.

Tourists who were arrested by police last February on charges of assaulting a Gyeongbokgung Palace security guard left the country the day after police questioning, while a tourist caught urinating near the Gyeongbokgung stone wall last year was only fined 50,000 won.

Representative Lee stated, "The number of visitors has entered the 20 million era, but the personnel and legal systems to protect them remain stagnant," adding, "The National Heritage Administration must promptly prepare comprehensive measures containing effective sanctions."

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