South Korea Will Participate in Examining Goguryo Relics in North Korea

There is a way for South Korea to participate in the examination and excavation of Goguryo relics in North Korea.

A civic group called “Pan National Council for National Reconciliation and Cooperation” held a press conference at Cecil Restaurant in Seoul on March 4 and announced that they had reached an agreement by contacting North Korea’s working level officials of the Department of Cultural Assets Preservation, an affiliated organization of N. Korea’s cabinet, at the Diamond Mountains on February 27-29.

“The protocol with the specific contents will be released after completing the working level conference at Pyongyang on March 9-11, and S. Korea’s main body for co-excavation and examination will decide after consultation with the academic world including the Goguryo Research Institute,” said Mr. Jo Sung-woo, chief of the Pan National Council for National Reconciliation and Cooperation.

The Pan National Council for National Reconciliation and Cooperation also said that they concluded with their North Korean counterparts to hold an exhibition of 227 pieces of Goguryo relics, including a mural painting and a miniature of an old tomb, in Seoul from April 9 through June 20. At this exhibition, the site of the old palace in Pyongyang will be displayed except for the relics which were exhibited at the Goguryo Special Exhibition, which was the first for S. Korea, from December 2002 through March 2003. As the largest one in Korea, a decorative tile of Anak Old Palace is 210 centimeters high, exceeding that of the Yellow Dragon Temple in Kyeongju. The Pan National Council for National Reconciliation and Cooperation said that it will collect contributions in order to prepare for collecting funds for preserving Goguryo relics in N. Korea prior to and after this exhibition.

Chae-Hyun Kwon confetti@donga.com