Lee Byung-hun, Ha Ye-rin lend voices to British Museum’s 'Korea' exhibition

Actors Lee Byung-hun and Ha Ye-rin will lend their voices to an audio tour for the British Museum’s upcoming exhibition, “Korea,” the museum said.

Lee, who stars in the film “No Other Choice” and voices a character in the animated film “KPop Demon Hunters,” and Korean Australian actress Ha, who stars in the fourth season of Netflix’s “Bridgerton,” will provide commentary for selected highlights of the exhibition, which opens Thursday. Lee will also serve as an exhibition ambassador.

In a video message posted on the museum’s social media channels, Lee said he hoped the exhibition would be “a great opportunity to introduce Korea’s long-standing traditions, history and culture” while strengthening cultural exchange between Korea and the United Kingdom.

“There were so many wonderful pieces, but one that really stood out to me was ‘The Tiger and the Magpie,’” Lee said.

The folk painting, dating from around 1800 to 1900, depicts a tiger and a magpie, a popular motif in Korean folk art, in a humorous manner. The pair gained renewed popularity after being featured in the animated film “KPop Demon Hunters.”

“Traditionally, magpies and tigers were believed to ward off bad luck and bring good fortune. But you can see in this piece, they are depicted in a humorous way, and the piece offers a satirical take on the era in which it was created,” Lee said.

The exhibition traces 2,000 years of Korean creativity, from around 300 BC to the present day, through sculpture, painting and decorative arts, according to the museum.

Another highlight is Jeong Seon’s “Clearing After Rain on Mount Inwang,” an ink-on-paper landscape painted in 1751, when the artist was 75. Designated a National Treasure, the work depicts Mount Inwangsan in Seoul after a rainstorm, with wet rocks and mist rising through the valleys.

The exhibition is based largely on the collection of the late Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee, whose family donated more than 23,000 works to the National Museum of Korea and the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in 2021.

London is the third international stop for the touring exhibition, following presentations in Washington, DC, and Chicago.

“Korea” opens Thursday and runs through Jan. 31, 2027.