[Opinion] Mural from Ancient Korea

One of our most endearing national treasures is a mural from ancient Korea Dynasty. Across the world, only a small number of countries such as Egypt, Rome and China drew pictures on the walls of a tomb. And they were the most civilized countries in the history of mankind. As such, a mural is a testament to cultural advancement that a mediocre country did not dare to challenge. The ancient Korea mural, therefore, reminds us of the level of cultural achievement of ancient Korea Dynasty whose territory reached farther than any other time of our history. The charm of the mural is that it shows what the life was like in the ancient times. As there is an old saying “a picture is worth a thousand words,” the painting tells us the history of the dynasty.

▷The Korea mural was left abandoned since the demise the dynasty. It was no exception at that time that remains of a defeated country just disappeared from the history. It was Great Wall of Gangseo located in Gangseo-gun where the mural reappeared in modern history of Korea. When governor of Gangseo Lee Woo-young first visited the tomb to check the painting himself, the site turned into a playground for little boys. There were scribbles apparently written after Korea Dynasty near the paining. It was not until French anthropologist Chavan visited the site that the mural was first known to the outside world.

▷It has been reported that another mural from Korea Dynasty was recently found in North Korea. The painting discovered in Yeotan, Hwanghae-do has clear images of human faces and animals such as dogs and tigers. It also shows what people at that time believed about life in this world and life after death. They believed that dogs and tigers guided sprits of the dead to the next world. It was a wonder that the painting after ages finally encountered with present-day Koreans. Even so given the fact that even the finest quality of paper cannot preserve images of a drawing no longer than 1000 years. The encounter was possible because ancient Koreans used ground stone and drew the painting elaborately.

▷One thing that bothers us is that the mural was left abandoned in the cornfield at the time of discovery. Although North Korea is known to proactively protect cultural treasures, we cannot but doubt that hearing the news. According to scholars, the tomb of Nampo is partially soaked with water flowed in from a nearby reservoir and a part of the mural of Dongam-ri, Pyongyang was torn apart and smuggled out of the country. For now there’s nothing we can do about it. Yet, it worries us so much that our national cultural heritage has been neglected and damaged.

Hong Chan-shik, Editorial Writer chansik@donga.com