Creating a new museum of ethnology in Korea is a ve까 appropriate thing to do. Over the last 50 years, Korea has become one of the most important industria1 nations of the world. Koreans have to deal with people with completely different cultural backgrounds. 1hrough migration, Korea is becoming a culturally diverse country and Koreans become global citizens. For Koreans to meet these new circurnstances it makes sense to leam how to communicate and engage with these other people effective1y. A museum of ethnology can be just the right instrument to do so π1e mission of such a museum is about cross c비tural understanding and engagementj not about objects but about people. Korea’s challenge is a unique one There is no model to copy. But it is useful to have a c10ser look at the development of ethnological museurns over the last three hundred years, and see what lessons can be drawn‘ The oldest museum is Kunstkamera in St. Petersburg π1e purpose of the museum was to display all the wonderful objects of the world. 1t was a mission of amazement. The next step in the development of ethnological museurns came with colonialism. The Leiden museum is a fme example. The general purpose of those early colonial museurns was for the people to leam about business oppoπunities and to understand how to control the people living in the colonies. Museums with a mission of knowledge and control. World War 2 ended the colonial era Museurns adopted a postcolonial mission of museum anthropology and material culture. Curators started research programs about “continuity and change" in material culture. Perhaps best example of such museum is Minpaku in Osaka. π1is is not the mode1 that Korea should also adopt πle task is more complicated and more innovative! The most appropriate mission is about cross cultura1 communication and engagement. He1p Koreans to appreciate other people with veπ ways of life and very different mindsets. You can do so by staging large exhibitions of world culture. Also, you can focus on schoolchildren and provide cross cultural experiences for them. Do so in c10se collaboration with existing institutions all over the worldj museurns in Europe and especially in Leiden are ready to open up their reserve collections for you to use in Korea