Head of CHA announces name change for his first anniversary
Published: 10 May. 2023, 16:01
Updated: 10 May. 2023, 17:12
The Cultural Heritage Administration (CHA) will soon change its name, tentatively, to the Korean Heritage Administration, Choi Eung-chon, head of the CHA, announced during a press conference marking his first year since taking the helm of the administration, on Tuesday at the Westin Josun Hotel in central Seoul.
On April 11, 2022, the CHA announced that it would work with lawmakers to enact a new bill named the Korean Heritage Basic Law in an attempt to overhaul the current heritage classification system, which includes changing the official title that refers to the state-designated cultural heritages from the current “Cultural Heritage” to “Korean Heritage.”
“We thought it would take about two to three years at least, but it was passed quickly [on April 27] by successfully persuading the lawmakers from both the ruling and opposition parties,” Choi said. “With the change in the classification system, we will be changing the name of the administration as well.”
The current Cultural Heritage classification system was adopted in 1962 along with the enactment of the Cultural Heritage Protection Act. CHA said the current system follows that which has been used in Japan since 1950, with only Korea and Japan using the term “cultural heritage.” The new name, Korean Heritage, is an extended concept that encompasses the source assets of communities and regions as well as future heritage. The new classification system will also be consistent with the Unesco heritage classification.
“We will first complete the legislative revisions to transform the system and then announce the future strategic vision containing the national heritage policy direction, at least by the end of this year,” Choi said, adding that the administration’s name may be changed around that time.
During the press conference, Choi summarized a list of CHA’s achievements during the past year under his leadership, which includes the scrapping of the admission fees to 65 Buddhist temples across the country affiliated with the Jogye Order, Korea’s largest Buddhist sect, which came into effect on May 4.
Visitors had to pay admission fees ranging from 1,000 won ($0.75) to 5,000 won per person to enter Buddhist temples with Korean cultural properties such as Haein Temple, Beopju Temple, Tongdo Temple, Bulguk Temple and Hwaeom Temple. The fees had been in place for the past 61 years.
The issue of collecting admission fees had also been a long-running issue as mountain climbers would be charged for passing through any route that happens to include one of the Buddhist temples, many of which are situated in scenic mountains. Such admission fees were criticized as “toll fees” by frequenters to the mountains.
Choi also talked about establishing an office under the administration in Europe to help repatriate important Korean national heritages scattered across the continent.
For example, Korea’s Jikji, the world's oldest known dated text printed with movable metal type, is currently being exhibited for the first time in 50 years at the National Library of France. But many Koreans are asking why it is so difficult to bring the artifact back home, or at least have it exhibited here.
While the library maintains its position that Jikji shall not leave its possession, the CHA announced it signed a memorandum of understanding with the library on April 11 that will allow the administration to work closely with the library to study and research Korean cultural properties under the possession of the library, including Jikji, emphasizing that this is the result of “years of working to build up trust.”
“We hope to build trust with European countries that possess Korean cultural properties so that we can at least research our cultural properties,” Chae Su-hee, director-general at the Heritage Promotion Bureau under the CHA, said. “It is important for the public to understand that we can’t just order a certain country to return an item just because it’s ours when we don’t really know how such items ended up in those countries. They may have been gifts or purchased. Through a new office in Europe, which we hope to soon establish, we will continue working on building trust with European countries and collect more information on Korea’s national heritages.”
The administration said it currently has two such offices overseas, one in Tokyo and the other in Washington.
Choi added that this is important as Korea can assume a stronger stance when requesting the items to be returned if it is clear that they were stolen, from a tomb for example, “as it is clear that no one would have gifted such sacred items.”
“The Cleveland Museum of Art returned a total of 18 epitaph tablets that were once buried in the tomb of a late Joseon military official, which had been in the museum’s collection for nearly 24 years,” Choi said. “It took us about two years to persuade the director, but when it was clear that it was stolen from a tomb and illegally taken outside the country, the Cleveland Museum of Art willingly returned it, which was an unprecedented example.”
BY YIM SEUNG-HYE [yim.seunghye@joongang.co.kr]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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