“Magpie and Tiger badge,” “Pensive Bodhisattva miniature,” and other museum cultural products created on the basis of Korea’s cultural heritage recorded their highest-ever sales this year, with more than KRW 40 billion worth sold.

According to the Korea National Museum Foundation on the 30th, annual sales of “Muze” (museum + goods) are tentatively estimated at KRW 40 billion. This is the first time the figure has surpassed the KRW 40 billion range since the foundation was established in 2004.

The foundation stated, “Once all sales, including those from offline shops at national museums across the country and royalty revenues, are finalized, total sales are expected to increase further.”

Muze sales rose steeply this year on the back of the K-culture boom. Average monthly sales were in the KRW 2 billion range between April and June, but surged to about KRW 5 billion in July, influenced by factors such as the release in June of the Netflix animation “K-Pop: Demon Hunters.”

In October, annual sales exceeded the KRW 30 billion range for the first time. At the first overseas touring exhibition of donated works by the late Lee Kun-hee, former chairman of Samsung, which opened last month at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art in Washington, DC, Muze products sold out within a week.

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