• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.56 no.2
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• pp.264-279
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• 2023

The 50th anniversary of the UNESCO World Heritage Convention was in 2022. In order to reflect on the present and future of the meaning of World Heritage, this paper examines the development and changes of the UNESCO World Heritage system. After promulgating the convention in 1972, the UNESCO World Heritage system prioritized the protection of heritage sites in the world that were at risk due to armed conflicts and natural disasters to bequeath heritage to the next generation. In addition, the UNESCO World Heritage's emphasis on Outstanding Universal Value represents the particular culture of human beings formed during a certain period of time, and acts as a significant source of soft power in public diplomacy. The UNESCO World Heritage might be perceived as a shared heritage that has not only become a channel to understand various national values, but also an effective medium to convey one of UNESCO's main principles, that is, peacebuilding. However, the UNESCO World Heritage is now at the center of conflicts of heritage interpretation between many stakeholders related to invisible wars, such as cultural wars, memory wars, and history wars as the social, political, and cultural contexts concerning World Heritage have dramatically shifted with the passing of time. Paying attention to such changing contexts, this paper seeks to understand the main developments in UNESCO World Heritage's discourse concerning changes to the World Heritage Operation Guidelines and heritage experts' meetings by dividing its 50-year history into five phases. Next, this paper analyzes the main shifts in keywords related to UNESCO World Heritage through UNESDOC, which is a platform on which all UNESCO publications are available. Finally, this paper discusses three main changes of UNESCO World Heritage: 1) changes in focus in World Heritage inscriptions, 2) changes in perception of World Heritage protection, and 3) changes of view on the role of the stakeholders in World Heritage. It suggests new emerging issues regarding heritage interpretation and ethics, climate change, and human rights.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.575-588
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• 2013

The concept of cultural landscape, which is defined in the World Heritage Convention, provides a new framework with which to manage the heritage sites. European Landscape Convention proposes that landscape is the basic component of natural and cultural heritage, which in turn contributes to the improvement of human well-being and consolidation of the European identity. While recognizing the international trend, Japan has strived to improve the level of managing and protecting the landscape and cultural landscape through the enactment of Landscape Law and the revision of Cultural Property Protection Law. Now that landscape and cultural landscape has occupied the core of heritage management in the advanced countries, it is required more than ever that the concept of landscape and cultural landscape should be clarified through the legislation and convention in Korea. If the legislation for protecting and managing the landscape and cultural landscape is prerequisite for Korea to be an advanced country, a careful and in-depth examination, along with the consideration of the Korean circumstances, should be further carried out on the international experiences about the legislation from the comparative perspective.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.56-85
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• 2010

UNESCO World Heritage Programme was introduced following the adoption of Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage by the General Conference of UNESCO in 1972 in order to protect cultural and natural heritage with superb value for all mankind. Despite its short history of less than 40 years, it has been evaluated as one of the most successful of the cultural area projects of UNESCO with 890 world heritage registered worldwide. For systematic protection management of World Heritage, UNESCO, through systemization of registration, emphasis on the importance of preservation management plan, institutionalization of monitoring, and operation of World Heritage Fund, has utilized World Heritage Programme not just as a means of listing excellent cultural properties, but as a preservation planning tool, and accordingly, such policies have had a significant influence on the cultural heritage protection legislations of numerous nations. Korea has ratified World Heritage Convention in 1988, and with the registration of the Royal Tombs of the Joseon Dynasty in 2009, it has 9 World Heritage Sites. Twenty years have passed since Korea joined the World Heritage Programme. While World Heritage registration contributed to publicity of the uniqueness and excellence of Korean cultural properties and improvement of Korea's national culture status, it is now time to devise various legislative/systematic improvement means to reconsider the World Heritage registration strategy and establish a systematic preservation management system. While up until now, the Cultural Properties Protection Law has been amended to arrange for basic rules regarding registration and protection of World Heritage Sites, and some local governments have founded bodies exclusive for World Heritage Site management, a more fundamental and macroscopic plan for World Heritage policy improvement must be sought. Projects and programs in each area for reinforcement of World Heritage policy capacity such as: 1) Enactment of a special law for World Heritage Site preservation management; 2) enactment of ordinances for protection of World Heritage Sites per each local government; 3) reinforcement of policies and management functionality of Cultural Heritage Administration and local governments; 4) dramatic increase in the finances of World Heritage Site protection; 5) requirement to establish plan for World Heritage Site preservation protection; 6) increased support for utilization of World Heritage Sites; 7) substantiation and diversification of World Heritage registration; 8) sharing of information and experiences of World Heritage Sites management among local governments; 9) installation of World Heritage Sites integral archive; 10) revitalization of citizen cooperation and resident participation; 11) training specialized resources for World Heritage Sites protection; 12) revitalization of sustainable World Heritage Sites tourism, must be selected and promoted systematically. Regarding how World Heritage Programme should be domestically accepted and developed, the methods for systemization, scientific approach, and specialization of World Heritage policies were suggested per type. In the future, in-depth and specialized researches and studies should follow.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.29
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• pp.9-26
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• 1996

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.51 no.3
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• pp.54-71
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• 2018

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the first inscription of 12 UNESCO World Heritage sites in 1978. Based on an overview of the implementation of the 'Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage', this article examines the current issues of the inscription of cultural heritage over the past 40 years. In particular, this paper focuses on the case study of 'Sacred Island of Okinoshima and Munakata Region' nominated by Japan, which was inscribed on the World Heritage List at the 41st World Heritage Committee in 2017. Also, it demonstrates the recent trend and investigates the issues of imbalances in the evaluation and the decisions among relevant actors in the nomination process of World Heritage. Furthermore, this article attempts to derive feasible implications and lessons, and to generate heritage discourse by examining Japan's management in 'heritage diplomacy' of the World Heritage Convention, which is rapidly changing in the course of its nearly half a century of implementation. In conclusion, the research is expected to provide Korea with strategic guidance marking the 30th anniversary of its entry into the Convention, and to steer the future direction for the inscription and conservation of cultural heritage.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Traditional Landscape Architecture
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.120-128
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• 2018

The purpose of this study is to establish basic data for the continuous protection management policy of domestic natural world heritage and mixed world heritage, and to examine the present situation and characteristics of the protection management according to the World Heritage Convention on the World Heritage listed Huangshan. The results of this study are as follows. First, Huangshan began to be protected by the establishment of the Huangshan Construction Committee in 1933, and after the designation of national park in 1982, laws and regulations were established in the central ministries, And various projects related to utilization have been implemented. Secondly, the establishment of the boundary for protection was actively intervened by the central government, such as the reorganization of the boundary of Huangshan through the administrative district plan. In order to protect the ecological and landscape value as well as the cultural factor, And designated a heritage designated area. Third, the protection management of Huangshan was divided into four major stages. The first phase was divided into the period when administrative measures were taken to manage the protection of Huangshan. The second phase was designated as a national park in Huangshan. The third period was the time of the protection-oriented project according to the recommendation of the international organizations after the World Heritage listed. The fourth period was the expansion of the tourism industry for the continuous use of protection of Huangshan city, My preservation business was being implemented. Fourth, Huangshan is managed by the central government and the city government. Huangshan, which is a mixed heritage, is managed jointly by the Ministry of Cultural Heritage Administration and the Ministry of Natural Heritage Administration. The protection and management of Huangshan promoted the efficiency and expertise of the heritage-related work through the establishment of the administrative unit-specific management system, and the local governments were entrusted with the authority to implement the protection management policies that meet local characteristics. Fifth, the preservation area of Huangshan has been destroyed by the development policy centered on the mountain. In addition, according to the operation of accommodation facilities, there are problems such as sewage, garbage disposal, and environmental pollution caused by tourists, and the damage caused by pests and diseases in planted plantations around the area and changes in ecosystem due to the composition of cable cars. Sixth, for the continuous protection of Huangshan, strict regulations on new construction, extension and management of accommodation are required, and it is necessary to install facilities to limit and control the number of visitors.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.57 no.1
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• pp.180-195
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• 2024

Community beliefs of the coastal villages in Gochang are cultural activities and rituals manifesting the hopes and spiritual worlds of the locals who live off the sea and tidal mud. Along with their societal functions wishing for peace, maritime safety, and good catches, the values of the Jwajeongdam (How god came to be), Yuraedam (History of worshipping), and Yeongheomdam (Stories of miracles), as living heritage need to be reexamined according to the recent Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. The community beliefs of the coastal villages in Gochang, where outstanding universal intangible and tangible values coexist, have been perpetually transmitted in interactions with tidal mud and the ecological environments of the sea. They reinforce the "Outstanding Universal Value" UNESCO mentions and sustainability that connects the past, present, and future. Furthermore, a coastal area is endowed with international accessibility over regionality. Hence the community beliefs are charged with eco-cultural values, which its preservation and promotion should also focus on to provide policies and protection activities. In short, the tidal mud and community beliefs of coastal villages in Gochang, which according to the concept of UNESCO's "mixed heritage," meet the values for natural, cultural, and intangible heritage at the same time, and so must be approached not in the scope of points or lines, but also in surfaces when arranging protection initiatives.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.53 no.4
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• pp.274-291
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• 2020

This year is the 50th anniversary of the adoption by UNESCO in 1970 of the Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export, and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property (the '1970 Convention'). Since its ratification of the 1970 Convention in 1983, the Republic of Korea has domestically implemented the Convention through its Cultural Heritage Protection Act, which was first enacted in 1962. This is a different form of implementation than is normally used for other UNESCO Conventions on cultural heritage, in that the Republic of Korea has recently adopted special acts to enforce the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage and the 1972 Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage. In addition, the 1970 Convention has been developed further through the introduction of new Operational Guidelines in 2015 for the concrete enforcement of the Convention, which has provided momentum for the Republic of Korea to analyze its current national legislation related to the 1970 Convention as well as consider its amendment in the future. Overall, the Cultural Heritage Protection Act of the Republic of Korea effectively reflects the duties of States Parties under the 1970 Convention. These include measures to introduce export certificates, prohibit the import of stolen cultural property, return other state parties' cultural property, and impose penalties or administrative sanctions in the event of any infringements. Indeed, the Republic of Korea's implementation of the 1970 Convention was introduced as an example of good practice at the Meeting of State Parties in 2019. However, changes in the illegal market for cultural property and development of relevant international law and measures imply that there still exists room for improvement concerning the legal implementation of the 1970 Convention at the national level. In particular, the Operational Guidelines recommend States Parties to adopt legal measures in two respects: detailed criteria for due diligence in assessing bona-fide purchasers, referring to the 1995 UNIDROIT Convention on Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects, and measures to address the emerging issue of illegal trade in cultural property on internet platforms. Amendment of the Cultural Heritage Protection Act and other relevant laws should be considered in order to duly reflect these issues. Taking that opportunity, concrete provisions to facilitate international cooperation in respect of the implementation of the 1970 Convention could be introduced as well. Such measures could be expected to strengthen the Republic of Korea's international legal cooperation to respond to the changing environment regarding illicit trafficking of cultural property and its restitution.

• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.49-69
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• 2017

The crisis of western welfare states and the spread of neoliberalism opened up the debate on community question and paid attention to community to cope with diverse social crises. There has been increasing recognition for the need to see World Heritage in terms of place and local community which had formed it rather than an object for conservation separated from the place where it is located. In addition, the conservation and use of cultural heritage can lead to the region's sustainable development and in turn is possible with the region's overall development. However, the Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention does not specify the definition and geographic extent of community. This paper considers place-based communities, Sahachons and religious communities, Sindohoes of seven Buddhist monasteries in preparation for inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List, and analyzes social networks of these two types of communities to see their consistency with their general characteristics. Social networks analyses indicates that some monasteries show significant differences between Sahachons and Sindohoes, but others do not. This result implies that communities should be seen as processes of constantly reconstituting their features and boundaries under their specific surroundings which are also in constant changes, thus requiring empirical studies.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.55 no.4
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• pp.296-312
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• 2022

This paper examines the concept and process of heritagization, as well as other measures for the value enhancement of food culture as heritage, through the case of the gastronomic meal of the French, which has a long history as a socially constructed heritage. Heritage refers to what a society perceives as worthy of being transmitted. Thus, a heritage is something that a society or group chooses to preserve and that represents its identity. In the 19th century, France began to designate and protect heritage through a policy of preserving historical monuments, and heritage became both a social construct and creation with the purpose of preserving and enhancing values. Interest in heritage spread around the world with globalization, and has grown even greater since the 1972 UNESCO Convention. This interest has progressively extended to nature, urban landscapes and intangible cultural heritage. In 2003, the UNESCO Convention for the Protection of the Intangible Cultural Heritage was adopted, and this has strengthened the interest in intangible cultural heritage worldwide. Food-related heritage has been excluded from the list due to difficulties in establishing inscription criteria and concerns about the potential commercialization of heritage. However, in 2010, the food cultures of the Mediterranean, Mexico, and France were inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, which prompted interest in food culture and efforts to inscribe the food heritage of a number of other countries, including Korea. France has a long history of interest in gastronomy as a cultural heritage and part of its national identity. Efforts to preserve and popularize gastronomy as a part of the national identity and heritage have been made at both the private level, by gourmets and associations, and at the governmental level. Through these efforts, the culture of gastronomy as a heritage has been firmly established through theoretical discussion, listing of food-related heritages, and policies. Sustainable development of the heritage is pursued through certain ongoing institutional approaches, including the City of Gastronomy network, the National Food Program, and the promotion and labeling of the Year of the French Gourmet.