(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Yena Kim = Intangible cultural heritage that continues our tradition but has not been well known until now is expected to be managed as 'preliminary intangible cultural heritage'.
Amid growing concerns about China's recent 'cultural fair' attempt to distort Korea's traditional culture into its own culture, attention is being paid to whether policy efforts to preserve traditional culture will be effective.
On the 14th, the National Heritage Administration announced through its official social networking service (SNS) account, "We will establish a new 'preservation list system' for neglected non-designated intangible cultural heritage."
The ‘preservation list system’ can be seen as the stage before designation as intangible cultural heritage.
The National Heritage Administration manages intangible heritage that promotes cultural diversity, such as traditional performances and arts, oral traditions and expressions, and traditional lifestyles such as food, clothing, and shelter, at the national or provincial level.
As of the end of September, a total of 164 items were designated as national intangible cultural heritage.
The new system being introduced is intended to preemptively discover and list heritage with great conservation value, although it is not designated as national or provincial intangible heritage.
It is similar to the ‘preliminary cultural heritage’ system recently introduced in the field of cultural heritage.
Reserve cultural heritage is a project that selects and protects cultural heritage that represents modern and contemporary history and culture, even if it has not been more than 50 years since it was created or formed.
The National Heritage Administration expects that once the conservation list system is established, it will proactively discover intangible cultural heritage that has not been well known or whose value has been evaluated at a relatively low level through contests, etc.
The National Heritage Administration said, “We are currently reviewing laws to establish a new system.”
This plan is not unrelated to the situation in which China has designated heritage related to Korean traditional culture, such as Arirang, Pansori, Chuseok, and Ssireum, as national-level intangible cultural heritage (equivalent to intangible heritage).
According to a report on the results of a 'comprehensive study on China's cultural fair response to Korean traditions' submitted by the National Heritage Administration to the office of Kim Yun-deok of the Democratic Party of Korea, a member of the Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee of the National Assembly, the number of cases (including duplicates) of traditional culture related to ethnic Koreans in China's three northeastern provinces, Jilin, Liaoning, and Heilongjiang, were designated as national-level non-material cultural heritage.
These include Arirang, pansori, Chuseok, kimchi making techniques, ssireum, janggo dance, crane dance, nongak dance, gayageum, traditional clothing, and 60th wedding ceremony.
Related problems were also pointed out in the National Heritage Administration audit held on the 8th of this month.
Heo Min, head of the National Heritage Administration, said of the recent situation, “It is very serious and embarrassing,” and added, “The history of the Korean people should not be distorted in the name of ‘cultural fair.’”
Regarding the establishment of the preservation list system, the National Heritage Administration explained the background by saying, "We will strengthen the Korean people's intangible cultural heritage transmission system" and "We will thoroughly protect the identity of our intangible cultural heritage."
He said, “In the future, we will take the lead in the international agenda on protecting the identity of intangible cultural heritage and prepare a mid- to long-term plan to respond to historical distortions.”
The National Heritage Administration also announced, “We will focus on exposing traditional culture to highly influential K-content to gain global awareness, and distribute multilingual explanatory materials around the world.”
