UNESCO’s intangible heritage evaluation body has recommended that both South Korea’s ‘Traditional knowledge, skills and cultural practices of making hanji’ and North Korea’s ‘Traditional martial art of the DPRK: Taekwondo’ be added to the Representative List. The final decision will be made at the 21st session of the Intergovernmental Committee in Xiamen, China, from November 30 to December 5.
According to Kyunghyang Shinmun and Asia Economy, the evaluators’ recommendations became known on November 5. Asia Economy reported that the body recommended all 59 applications it reviewed this year, and that such recommendations are rarely overturned. A recommendation is not the final decision; that rests with the committee in December.
광고 문의 · 300×250If hanji is inscribed, it will be South Korea’s 24th item of intangible cultural heritage of humanity. Korea now holds 23, the latest being the 2024 ‘Jang-making culture’. Kyunghyang Shinmun said the evaluators noted that hanji is used for records, printing, crafts and household goods and plays an important role in community life and cultural practice.
Taekwondo was submitted by North Korea alone in March 2024. If confirmed, it would be the North’s sixth item, after Arirang (2014), kimchi-making (2015), the jointly listed ssireum wrestling (2018), Pyongyang naengmyeon (2022) and Joseon clothing customs (2024), according to the list compiled by Asia Economy.
Seoul’s response and what remains
South Korea also filed its own application on March 31 under the title ‘Taekwondo: Community practice culture of the Korean dojang’. Asia Economy reported that the government had sought a joint listing with the North, but talks never took place amid strained inter-Korean relations, so the joint plan effectively fell through. Heo Min, head of the Korea Heritage Service, had also said on social media on November 2 that he expected the North’s taekwondo to be recommended and that a joint listing would be difficult.
Some critics say Seoul lost taekwondo to the North by being slow. Kim Ji-hyeon, a policy team head at the Korean National Commission for UNESCO, explained that the system does not rule on exclusive ownership and instead recognises that the same culture is passed down differently in different countries. The reports also recalled that Bolivia objected when Peru’s Candelaria festival was listed in 2014, yet UNESCO stated that inscription does not imply exclusivity.
The Korea Heritage Service says it will keep pursuing a ‘sole listing’ or an ‘extension’ of taekwondo whatever the outcome. An extension must still go through evaluation and review like a new entry and requires talks with the North, so it is expected to take time. Korea’s next candidate, ‘ginseng culture’, is scheduled for a decision in 2028. Official reactions from the Kukkiwon and from North Korean authorities could not be confirmed.
