Seoul lacks cultural facilities greatly, compared with foreign cities

Compared with major foreign cities, Seoul is greatly lacking in cultural facilities such as museums and places for performances, a Grand National Party lawmaker said Monday.

Rep. Shin Young-Kyun pointed out that the number of drama theaters in Seoul is one eighth of that in Paris, museums one eleventh and movie houses one eighteenth, when compared with the French city in terms of population.

Rep. Shin said Seoul has only 63 museums, compared to 243 in Tokyo, 150 in New York, 130 in Berlin, 105 in Paris, and 76 in Moscow.

As for movie houses, Seoul has 134, compared to 465 in New York, 368 in Moscow, 351 in Paris and 205 in Paris.

In particular, Seoul has only 34 libraries, less than one tenth of Moscow¡¯s 416 and Tokyo¡¯s 376 and the number is also far less than 256 in Berlin, 212 in New York and 72 in Paris, the lawmaker said during the parliamentary inspection of Seoul City Hall.