Ticket Booking for Cheong Wa Dae Tours Gets Easier

Tickets to the old presidential palace of Cheong Wa Dae will be allotted on a first-come, first-served basis via a single government booking site from June 12 instead of by a lottery during the first few weeks of opening to the public.

The daily visitor cap will also be raised from the current 39,000 to 49,000, the Cultural Heritage Administration said Thursday.

That simplifies bookings enormously. Tickets are now available only on opencheongwadae.kr, whereas until Friday they could be made on Naver, KakaoTalk or Toss.

Each person can book up to six tickets instead of the previous four. The compound is closed on Tuesdays.

Visiting hours have been changed to 9 a.m.-6 p.m, and visitor groups can enter for their guided tours at intervals of an hour and a half six times a day.

Over-65s who have difficulty making online bookings, handicapped people, and foreigners can also buy tickets from a booth at the compound's gate at 9 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Five-hundred tickets are available each time.