By Lee Hyo-won
Staff Reporter
A class-2 cultural center under the auspices of UNESCO will be established in South Korea, the Cultural Heritage Administration of Korea (CHA) announced Saturday.
Plans to establish the Intangible Heritage Center for Asia-Pacific were approved and finalized during the 35th General Conference of the U.N. agency for culture and education, underway in Paris through Friday. This is the first UNESCO-sponsored center to be launched here.
According to a statement, the center aims to safeguard intangible cultural heritages ― oral traditions and expression, performing arts, social practices and traditional craftsmanship that communities, groups and sometimes individuals recognize as part of their cultural heritage. Furthermore, it will focus on collecting, researching and sharing data on intangible heritages in the Asia Pacific region. In particular it will conserve, restore and digitize fragile multimedia data.
The organization will also protect endangered traditions through international initiatives, and provide technical and administrative assistance to countries in the region.
The center is to work in close collaboration with local organizations such as the National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage. It will also maintain close relations with international bodies such as Asia/Pacific Cultural Center for UNESCO (ACCU), Regional Center for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Heritage of Latin America (CREPIAL) and World Heritage Training and Research Institute for Asia and the Pacific Region.
Another important function it hopes to achieve is to attract public interest in intangible assets through performances, exhibitions, publications and educational programs.
Korea initiated plans for the project in 2003 following the Convention for Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. In September 2006, the Establishment Initiative for the Intangible Center for Asia and the Pacific (EIIHCAP) was established under the Korea Cultural Heritage Foundation, which is funded and supported by the CHA, to serve as a predecessor of the center. The EIIHCAP and CHF have undertaken a number of bilateral and multilateral projects involving other Asia and Pacific states.
The official pitch to build the center in Korea was submitted in the spring of 2008. The proposal underwent a feasibility study in January followed by discussions in the 181st session of UNESCO's Executive Board.
South Korea has eight traditions that are registered under UNESCO's Representative List, including the "pansori" epic chant and the Royal Ancestral Ritual in the Jongmyo Shrine.