Explanations of the Revised Protection of Cultural Properties Act

개정 문화재보호법 해설 -'99년 1월 ~ 2001년 9월 기간 개정사항-

The purpose of this document is to explain the revisions of the Protection of Cultural Properties Act and its sub-laws which have been mad from Jan. 1999 to Sep. 2001. The Protection of Cultural Properties Act and its sub-laws have been revised three times from 1999 to 2001, before and after the Office of Cultural Properties was raised to Cultural Properties Administration on May 24, 1999. The main points of the revisions are as follows. First of all, the role of the local autonomous entities has been increased. The governor of the local autonomous entities is entitled to announce administrative orders related to the preservation of State-designated Cultural Properties. Also, the local autonomous entities has the authorities to examine whether the construction work which will be made in the outer boundaries, which is provided by regulations, of the protected area of the cultural properties might have any effect on preservation of cultural properties or not. Second, preventive actions to protect the cultural properties have been strengthened. If the scale of construction work is more than some scale, the preliminary survey of the surface of the earth to confirm the existence of buried cultural properties and their distribution is obligated. One who is promoting the development plan more than some scale must discuss the plan with the Administrator of Cultural Properties Administration in the process of planning. These actions would be effective to prevent the cultural properties from being damaged because of the development. Third, relaxation of the restrictions has been proceeded. On the basis of regulations which specify the actions to affect the preservation of cultural properties, negative system that does not limit the actions which are not specified in the regulations is introduced. The appropriateness of both protected structure and area should be regularly reviewed and adjusted. Also, most of the restrictions which was made only for administrative convenience and over-regulated the people's living have been revised. Finally, the number of cultural properties to be protected has been increased. Besides the State-designated Cultural Properties, the other cultural properties which are worthy to be protected as City-or-Province-designated Cultural Properties can be designated provisionally and protected. The system of registration and maintenance of the buildings and facilities which are not designated as the Modern Cultural Heritages is established. The penalty for damaging and stealing the cultural Properties which are not designated to be protected was strengthened. Even a dead natural monument can be acknowledged as an natural monument and it is limited to make a specimen or stuffing of the dead natural monument. All of these actions are fit to the high level of understanding of the public about the cultural properties and as the result of these actions, the number of cultural properties to be preserved has been increased. To sum up, the directions of revisions of the Protection of Cultural Properties Act and its sub­laws which have been made from Jan. 1999 to Sep. 2001. are the localization of the protection of the cultural properties, the strengthening of protective actions, the relaxation of various regulations and the increasing of the number fo the protected cultural properties. Also, various problems raised in the processes of implementations of the laws have been reviewed and revised.