Korea, seeking key meeting, pledges W5b to UNESCO

Funding could boost Korea’s bid to host UNESCO meeting, official says

Choi Eung-chon (left), the Korea Heritage Service administrator, and Ernesto Ottone Ramire, the UNESCO assistant director general for culture, sign an MOU on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Fund in France on Friday. (Korea Heritage Service)

South Korea will contribute a total of 5 billion won ($3.6 million) to UNESCO’s fund promoting intangible cultural heritage around the world, as it bids to host a meeting of the UN cultural body in the country.

The Korea Heritage Service will gift 1 billion won annually over the next five years to help the body set up an online platform that shares the best practices of preserving intangible heritage, according to the state-run agency, which said a formal arrangement has been signed to oversee progress.

A Korea Heritage Service official said the latest donation demonstrates Seoul’s commitment to looking after cultural objects of global significance.

Currently, Korea is ramping up efforts to host the annual meeting of the 21-member UNESCO World Heritage Committee next year.

The meeting, which started in France in 1977, has since convened in only four Asian countries — Thailand, Japan, China and Cambodia.

A meeting in Korea, the KHS official noted, would enhance the country’s global profile. A July committee meeting in Paris will decide on Korea’s bid, the official added, saying a dedicated task force is engaged in last-minute outreach to the 21 member countries that will vote on the host country.

Korea is currently the sole country planning to announce a candidate host city in late June. “The candidate host city will wait for confirmation at the July meeting of the World Heritage Committee,” a KHS official said.

“Our presence at UNESCO is bigger than what some might think,” another KHS official said of the country’s growing influence in the organization, referring to Korean entries on UNESCO’s list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity.

Korea now has 23 entries, the fourth-highest after China with 39, Turkey with 28 and France with 26. Korea last made the list in December for jang-making, the traditional Korean ways of making fermented pastes and sauces known as “jang.”