Korea seeks Unesco designation for 2 collections tracing history, protection of language
![The photo shows "Naebang-gasa: Songs of the Inner Chambers," a genre of Korean literary songs traditionally sung by women in their private quarters. The Korea Heritage Service submitted an application to Unesco to list Naebang-gasa on Unesco’s Memory of the World International Register, it announced on Nov. 24. [KOREA HERITAGE SERVICE]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/11/24/24e78248-8976-49a9-b51f-5d76ddae0f73.jpg)
The photo shows "Naebang-gasa: Songs of the Inner Chambers," a genre of Korean literary songs traditionally sung by women in their private quarters. The Korea Heritage Service submitted an application to Unesco to list Naebang-gasa on Unesco’s Memory of the World International Register, it announced on Nov. 24. [KOREA HERITAGE SERVICE]
Korea has asked Unesco to recognize two collections that trace how Koreans wrote, learned and defended their language across centuries — from women in secluded quarters to linguists resisting colonial suppression — as part of the world’s documentary heritage.
The Korea Heritage Service said Monday it submitted nominations on Friday to the Unesco Memory of the World Secretariat for "Naebang-gasa: Songs of the Inner Chambers," a body of women’s domestic literary works, and a set of early modern Korean dictionary manuscripts produced during the Japanese colonial period (1910-45).
A national committee selected both entries in September. Unesco’s International Advisory Committee will review the materials before the Executive Board makes a final decision in France in the first half of 2027.
The Naebang-gasa submission encompasses 567 works created between 1794 and the late 1960s, all written by women, capturing personal hardship, social criticism and everyday life not commonly detailed in historical accounts.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, women copied and recited these Korean language texts, gaining literacy and opportunities to write.
The Korea Heritage Service said the collection “proves that women from many backgrounds formed literary communities and took on active roles as creators and transmitters.”
![The photo shows "Naebang-gasa: Songs of the Inner Chambers," a genre of Korean literary songs traditionally sung by women in their private quarters. The Korea Heritage Service submitted an application to Unesco to list Naebang-gasa on Unesco’s Memory of the World International Register, it announced on Nov. 24. [KOREA HERITAGE SERVICE]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/11/24/fb32f9c2-6789-4ea4-9dfe-7947a99a5d9b.jpg)
The photo shows "Naebang-gasa: Songs of the Inner Chambers," a genre of Korean literary songs traditionally sung by women in their private quarters. The Korea Heritage Service submitted an application to Unesco to list Naebang-gasa on Unesco’s Memory of the World International Register, it announced on Nov. 24. [KOREA HERITAGE SERVICE]
Interest in the corpus grew after a 2021 exhibition jointly organized by the National Hangeul Museum and the Korean Studies Institute, according to the museum. That show led to the works’ inscription on Unesco’s Asia Pacific Regional Register in 2022.
The museum said that surveys of holdings in cities including Damyang County, South Jeolla; Andong, Sangju and Yecheon County in North Gyeongsang and Gimhae, South Gyeongsang — along with cooperation from nine institutions such as the Korea Gasa Literature Collection — made the new nomination possible.
Elevating previously overlooked regional Korean-language heritage through state-led initiatives has “important meaning for the balanced development of culture,” the museum added.
![Pictured is a manuscript of the Malmoe from the draft of the modern Korean dictionary [KOREA HERITAGE SERVICE] [KOREA HERITAGE SERVICE]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/11/24/79de867e-d5e7-4bfb-bd25-3cf7c203a2f4.jpg)
Pictured is a manuscript of the Malmoe from the draft of the modern Korean dictionary [KOREA HERITAGE SERVICE] [KOREA HERITAGE SERVICE]
The second submission centers on dictionary manuscripts produced amid growing concern that the Korean language could be marginalized under colonial rule.
The nomination includes one surviving volume of "Malmoe," compiled around 1910 to 1912 by the linguist Ju Shi-gyeong (1876-1914) and his student Kim Du-bong, and 18 volumes of "The Comprehensive Korean Language Dictionary" manuscript held by The Korean Language Society, the Independence Hall of Korea and the Dongsung Academy Foundation.
The "Malmoe" volume reflects early attempts to create a modern Korean dictionary at a time when intellectuals debated how to unify the national language after the opening of Korean ports in the late 19th century. Those efforts later shaped the more extensive "Comprehensive Korean Language Dictionary" parts that date from the 1930s to 1942 and are included in the nomination.
![The photo shows a Malmoe manuscript from a draft of the modern Korean dictionary, designated a national treasure in 2020 and regarded as evidence of Korea’s independent dictionary-making efforts and its attempts to preserve the Korean language during Japanese colonial rule. [KOREA HERITAGE SERVICE]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/11/24/4cb9c4a2-b8b4-4739-b5d4-fccac0a2abfa.jpg)
The photo shows a Malmoe manuscript from a draft of the modern Korean dictionary, designated a national treasure in 2020 and regarded as evidence of Korea’s independent dictionary-making efforts and its attempts to preserve the Korean language during Japanese colonial rule. [KOREA HERITAGE SERVICE]
The Korea Heritage Service said the manuscripts are significant because they document “the movement to preserve the mother tongue and establish national identity,” and because they contributed to shifting everyday language use from Chinese-character-based writing toward hangul, or the Korean alphabet, expanding literacy and access to education.
Unesco launched its Memory of the World program in 1997 to safeguard rare books, archives, letters and other irreplaceable records. Korea’s first inscriptions that year included the "Hunminjeongeum" and "The Annals of the Joseon Dynasty." With two additions this year — the Jeju 4.3 Archives and the nation’s forest restoration archives — Korea now has 20 entries on the representative list.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY KANG HYE-RAN [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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