The National Museum of Korea was ranked ninth in the world and first in Asia in terms of the number of visitors in 2010.

A respected monthly journal on museums based in the U.K., The Art Newspaper, published in its April issue a list of the most visited museums worldwide in 2010. It said the South Korean museum was visited by more than three-million people last year.

The museum said the achievement was due to its hosting of a wide variety of exhibitions, such as its showcase of Goryeo Dynasty Buddhist paintings, the G20 Summit in Seoul, a Silla Dynasty royal tomb, and the Inca civilization. In addition, the museum said that the increase in the number of children and students, as well as of foreign visitors, contributed to the tally.

Meanwhile, other museums in South Korea had Gyeongju National Museum ranked 22nd in the world and the Gongju National Museum ranked 91st.

The Louvre Museum in France topped the list in the number of visitors as its perennial leader, with eight-point-five million visitors in 2010, followed by the British Museum in the U.K., the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the Tate Modern museum in the U.K.