North Korean Goguryu Remains Await UNESCO World Heritage Status

A steering committee of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) opened its deliberations at the headquarters of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Paris, France on January 16. The committee will judge whether it or not to register the remains of ancient Goguryu found in North Korea and China as a world heritage site.

As a consultative body of the World Heritage Committee (WHC), the ICOMOS seems willing to recommend 63 ancient tombs of Goguryu in North Korea for world heritage status in this meeting. The remains of Goguryu located in Jian, China are also likely to be recommended.

In the meeting which will end on January 18, the committee will submit its recommendations to WHC classified under the categories: “to be inscribed”; “to be deferred”; “to be referred” and “not to be inscribed.”

The final decision will be made at the 28th WHC General meeting which will be held in Suzhou, Jiangsu in China in June. The WHC will accept recommendations made by ICOMOS, a group of experts in this area, unless there are major changes.

“We are closely watching whether China will classify those Goguryu remains in China as its own heritage in its registration form or put descriptions excluding its relation with Korean people,” said a representative from the Korean National Commission for UNESCO.

The head of the Korean National Commission for UNESCO, Lee yung-jo, who has stayed in Paris for the purpose of visiting the meeting, emphasized that “it is one issue for ICOMOS to recommend the Goguryu remains as the world heritage, and another to admit that they are made by Chinese people.”

The remains in North Korea were deferred registration in the 27th WHC General meeting in July, 2003 as a matter of care and preservation. It was also a matter of necessity when a comparison with the ones in China was proposed, even though North Korea requested their registration in January, 2002.

UNESCO passed the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage in 1972 in order to preserve cherished human heritage and designated cultural heritage sites. A total of 754 heritage sites (cultural 582, natural 149 and mixed 23) throughout 129 nations have been registered as of last December. Almost half of them are in Europe. China has 29 and India has 24. Korea has enrolled 7 heritage sites, including Hwaseong, Changdeok Palace, Dolmens and a historic area in Kyungju. North Korea joined UNESCO in 1998, but it has not enrolled any heritage sites as of yet.

Jei-Gyoon Park phark@donga.com