[Anchor]

As the number of foreign tourists visiting South Korea this year is projected to exceed a record-breaking 20 million, the ways in which foreign visitors enjoy Korean culture are also diversifying. Gugak (traditional Korean music) performance venues, which might have once seemed unfamiliar, are emerging as popular tourist courses.

Senior Culture and Arts Reporter Kim Soo-hyun visited the scene.

[Reporter]

A permanent Gugak performance venue located in Insadong, Seoul.

After choosing and wearing a traditional hanbok gwanbok over a jeogori, visitors step into an intimate space resembling a traditional hanok reception room, and the performance begins.

Just a few steps away, two musicians take turns playing traditional Korean music, ranging from Jeongak (court music), which was performed at royal banquets known as "Jinyeon," to gayageum byeongchang (singing while playing the gayageum).

The musicians explain the songs and instruments.

[Choi Soo-young / Haegum Player: The haegum has two strings made of silk. The bow moves between the two strings to create sound. Moving like this across the inner and outer strings...]

Audience members even get a chance to try playing the gayageum themselves.

Opened in May of last year, this 20-seat venue has spread by word of mouth, now holding up to three performances a day and having already surpassed 1,000 shows.

[Michaela / Audience from Italy: It was great because it's a small stage so we could see it up close, and the musicians were really wonderful. I thoroughly enjoyed the live performance of traditional Korean instruments.]

[Um Yu-jung / Gayageum Player: The composition of the pieces has changed a lot to meet the needs of the public. Then we decided that we needed to use English, so English was added.]

When it comes to permanent Gugak performances, the Saturday Masterpiece Performance at the National Gugak Center, which boasts a tradition of some 40 years, is the representative example.

Although the performance originally started for domestic audiences, these days one out of every three audience members is a foreigner.

Featuring a cast of around 60 performers, it allows audiences to see the essence of traditional Korean music and dance on a single stage, from Jeongak and Seodo folk songs to Chunaengjeon (Spring Nightingale Dance) and sogo-chum (small drum dance).

[Stefan / Audience from Germany: The duet sung together by a man and a woman (Jeongak gagok) was interesting. That was my favorite part.]

As the number of foreign tourists interested in traditional Korean culture beyond K-pop and K-dramas continues to grow, the landscape of Gugak performance venues is shifting.

(Camera: Kim Hak-mo | Video Editing: Park Ji-in | VJ: Oh Se-gwan)