Korean authorities are offering to exempt admissions to royal sites across Seoul this month timed with the Aug. 15 Liberation Day amid renewed public attention to history amid ongoing row with Japan.

The Cultural Heritage Administration on Thursday announced that admissions to cultural heritage sites including the four royal grounds - Gyeongbokgung Palace, Changdeokgung Palace, Deoksugung Palace, Changgyeonggung Palace - Jongmyo Shrine, and royal tombs of the Joseon Dynasty, located in Seoul will be free from August 10 until 25.

The national cultural agency said the event is to celebrate the Liberation Day, which marks as the 74th year for Korea’s independence from Japanese colonization this year on August 15. Korea had been under Japanese rule from 1910 to 1945, when the World War II ended.

Royal premises had been opened free for more than two weeks in July 2015 to lure public out amid panicky response to the outbreak of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS).

The number of visitors to the four palaces, shrine and royal tombs in Seoul during the first six months of this year totaled 5.2 million, exceeding the 5 million mark for the first time in three years.

Cultural Heritage Administration said this year also marks as the 100th year the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea was set up and the 100-year anniversary of the March First Movement, a nationwide public demonstration in support of Korea’s independence from Japan that began on Mar. 1, 1919.

In commemoration of the independence fighters, the national cultural agency with Korea cultural Heritage Foundation is hosting a special performance of Korea’s traditional arts at Deoksugung Palace from Aug. 15 to Aug. 17.

National Museum of Korean Contemporary History is also holding a classical music concert under the theme of Korea’s independence on Aug. 15.

By Jeon Ji-hyun and Cho Jeehyun

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]