By Do Je-hae
Staff Reporter

Executive members of the world's largest organization of experts in national archives will meet in Seoul in 2010 to exchange best practices in preserving state records, the government announced Monday.

The executive board meeting of the International Council of Archives (ICA) will take place from May 31 to June 4 at a national records museum in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province. The museum is operated by the National Archives of Korea (NAK).

``We will use the ICA meeting to disseminate Korea's expertise and techniques in preserving national records and promoting international cooperation among relevant experts and officials,'' Park Sang-duk, president of the NAK, said in a statement.

Korea will organize the meeting in conjunction with the International Archival Culture Expo 2010 also to be held here from June 1 to 4.

Founded in 1950, the ICA currently has a membership of 1,169 organizations specializing in archives from 190 countries.

NAK, which has a 40-year tradition of keeping historical documentations, has been an active ICA member since 1979.

Board members of the ICA recently met in the town of Tamanghasset, Algeria, and decided to hold their next executive meeting in Seoul, particularly in light of Korea's initiatives to recognize archives as a cornerstone of the information society and seek innovative ways for their preservation.

Korea has been noted for adopting online applications to preserve and share state records in the form of public portals such as contents.archives.go.kr, or www.pa.go.kr, a depository of historical documents related to former heads of state.

By joining an online membership, the public has the right to peruse or photocopy documents serviced by these Web sites.

Meanwhile, Korea will be hosting a number of international events in the coming months, as NAK celebrates its 40th birthday this year.

It will host the International Conference on Records Management from Wednesday through Friday and a forum on preserving online records Thursday.

NAK, based in Daejeon, is affiliated with the Ministry of Public Administration and Security.

jhdo@koreatimes.co.kr