• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.51 no.4
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• pp.146-169
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• 2018

Artificial or natural artifacts, which have historical, artistic, academic or scenic value as national, ethnic or global assets, are designated as "cultural heritages" under the Act on the Protection of Cultural Heritage. Cultural heritages can be divided into tangible cultural heritages, intangible cultural heritages, and monument and folklore heritages. In addition, depending on the object of designation, a cultural heritage can be designated either as a city or a provincial cultural heritage or a cultural heritage material, by a city mayor or provincial governor, and as a state-designated heritage by the administrator of the Cultural heritage Administration. The regular survey is a part of the policy for the preservation and management of state-designated heritages, which requires that surveys be undertaken every three to five years for the preservation, repair and maintenance of cultural heritages. It was stipulated in the Act on the Protection of Cultural Heritage in 2006, and since then has substantially contributed to the preservation and management of state-designated heritages based on the identification of damage to cultural heritages and the application of appropriate treatment measures. However, some parts of the guidelines on the regular survey, legislated in 2006, occasionally give rise to confusion in managing the regular survey system of state-designated movable cultural heritages, and need to be modified to facilitate the systematic management and improvement of the regular survey system. This study attempts to analyze the structure and operation of the regular survey system of state-designated movable cultural heritages, and proposes plans for improving the way of specifying each department which leads, manages and executes the regular survey, the process of entrusting the survey, and its guidelines and forms. I hope that these plans concerning the regular survey of state-designated movable cultural heritages will contribute to improving the quality and management of the system.