Unearthing modern history: Korea moves to preserve its recent past
"Haeyang 250," Korea's first manned submersible vessel, has been designated as a preliminary cultural heritage artificact. Courtesy of National Heritage Administration
In the traditional narrative of heritage preservation, cultural value is often measured in centuries, etched into ancient stone pagodas or preserved in ink and paper. But as Korea looks back on its meteoric transformation over the past half-century, heritage officials are rewriting those boundaries to capture the relics of a rapidly evolving modern identity.
The National Heritage Administration announced Monday the nine winning selections from its third annual contest to uncover candidate preliminary cultural heritage artifacts — items less than 50 years old that nevertheless capture the country's modern narrative.
Drawn from a competitive pool of 18,156 individual objects submitted by 20 public and private organizations across the country, the final roster highlights how sports, typography, literature, labor and grassroots activism shaped modern Korea.
The top honor went to the Korea Baseball Organization for its handwritten founding master plan from 1981. Drafted just months before the official launch of the league in 1982, the strategy ushered in Korea's first professional sports league, laying the groundwork for what has since become a central pillar of contemporary Korean culture.
Other prominent selections reflect the diverse strands of 20th century Korean life.
Among the prize winners was the original handwritten manuscript for "The Taebaek Mountains," author Jo Jung-rae’s epic novel detailing Korea's turbulent mid-century history, submitted by Boseong County.
The National Hangeul Museum earned recognition in typography for designer Kim Jin-pyeong’s foundational hand-sketched lettering designs and theoretical manuscripts, which defined Korean graphic layout during the 1970s and 1980s.
Technological and humanitarian endeavors also took center stage.
The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, alongside partner institutions, was honored for Haeyang 250, Korea’s first manned submersible, which logged deep-sea exploration dives down to 251 meters, starting in the early 1980s.
Meanwhile, items belonging to the late Father John Lee Tae-seok — whose medical, educational, and cultural missionary work in Tonj, South Sudan, gained national reverence — were highlighted as rare physical artifacts of international humanitarian aid.
The roster also included gear from the female workers who scraped rust off ships in Busan's repair yards, vintage projection equipment from Gwangju Theater, early observation logs from the Sobaeksan Optical Astronomy Observatory and field journals kept by reporter Lee Tae-young during a historic 1977 Everest expedition.
An official award ceremony will take place at the National Palace Museum of Korea in Seoul on Sept. 29 at 1:30 p.m. Selected items will now receive priority consideration for official designation by the National Heritage Committee, establishing a formal mechanism to preserve contemporary history before it slips away.
This article was published with the assistance of generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.