South Korea seeks UNESCO heritage status for taekwondo

South Korea’s National Heritage Administration has begun steps to register taekwondo as a UNESCO intangible cultural heritage. Attention is focused on whether South Korea can be listed alongside North Korea, which previously submitted a nomination.

According to the Heritage Administration on Jan. 19, the Cultural Heritage Committee selected taekwondo on Jan. 8 as the next candidate for joint or extended inscription on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The administration said it plans to submit the nomination to the secretariat of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage around March, with the review scheduled for December.

North Korea first applied for registration in 2024 under the name “Traditional Martial Art Taekwondo of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.” The review is currently underway, and a decision is expected at the 21st session of the Intergovernmental Committee, scheduled for November and December in Xiamen, China. The Heritage Administration said it will initially consider a joint listing with North Korea, but if North Korea secures registration first, South Korea may pursue an expanded inscription to achieve a joint listing.

South and North Korea previously achieved a joint registration of ssireum, a traditional Korean wrestling style, on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2018. At the time, the two sides submitted separate applications but later agreed to file a joint request letter after consultations. If taekwondo is jointly registered, it would become the second intangible cultural heritage item to be listed jointly by South and North Korea.


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