• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.18-41
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• 2011

The Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Korea has begun since1962 when the Cultural Properties Protection Act was established. Korean ICH Safeguarding system is initially derived from Cultural Properties Protection Act in Japan. Japan has started Important ICH Designation System in 1954 to concede the skills and artistic talents holders, thus it could implement the multilateral system management for adopting different ICH protection systems such as Important Intangible Folklore Properties, Selection and Preservation Techniques, and Documenting Records. However, Korea has solely adopted Important ICH Designation System since Cultural Properties Protection Act was introduced. Korean ICH Safeguarding System represented by the Certification System of ICH Skill Holders is to ensure skills and artistic holders who perform the elements of Intangible Cultural Heritage, and manage the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage in order to let the skills and artistic holders instruct inheritors. As a result, it could build up the internal foundation for the diffusion of inheritors and established the related organizations. However, the inheritor-centered protection system has caused many problems as it is being lasted for more than fifty years. Fragmented designation measures, the cultural power of skill holders, and the research and evaluation methods have pointed out the difficulties of safeguarding and preservation measures of ICH. Moreover,the legitimacy of safeguarding system related in the authenticity of transmission in ICH has emerged to review the safeguarding system of ICH with diverse viewpoints. Therefore, this paper will review the implementation process and achievement of ICH safeguarding system to examine the problem and causes of the safeguarding system. The conference records of Cultural Property Association and articles of cultural properties policies directors, Cultural Property Association members, and professional experts are being used for the initial materials of this paper, and it is examined for the contents of designation system of Important Cultural Heritage, rather than overall cases. Thus such problems the limitation of expansion in ICH lists as inheritor-centered designation system, hierarchical and exclusive transmission system, inappropriate concept of archetype as the principle of ICH transmission are derived from the root of Important ICH designation system. Thus this paper demonstrates that this system must be revised for the expansion of ICH safeguarding system in Korea and points out multilateral protection system should be established as well as Certification System of Important ICH skill holders.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.146-165
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• 2016

With the introduction of the system of recognizing masters of craft and performance skills in 1970, the principle of "preserving the original form," which was already in general use, was adopted as a legal principle in the Cultural Heritage Protection Act. While the concept "original form" can be related to tangible elements of heritage through the Act, the intangibility of craft and performance skills does not allow their pinpointing at a particular temporal period or the identification of a particular master from the past as the basis of an original form. Therefore, those craft or performance skills that are available at the point of recognition of relevant masters must serve as the basis of the original form for the intangible heritage concerned. This means that the principle of preserving the original form of intangible heritage has been implemented not based on a fundamental form of materiality, but rather on the craft or performance skills that may be held by a master at the time of his/her recognition as a "temporary original form." This principle has been observed through intangible heritage transmission and education policies for recognized masters and their trainees, contributing to establish an elitist transmission environment in which public were denied to join the education on intangible heritage. Even with policies guided by the principle of preserving the original form, designated craft and performance skills have been transformed contingent upon given social and environmental conditions, thus hindering the preservation of the original form. Despite the intrinsic limitations of the principle of preserving the original form when applied to intangible heritage, this principle has served as a practical guideline for protecting traditional Korean culture from external influences such as modernization and Westernization, and also as an ultimate goal for the safeguarding of intangible heritage, engendering actual policy effects. The Act on the Safeguarding and Promotion of Intangible Cultural Heritage that comes into effect in March 2016 takes the constantly evolving nature of intangible heritage into consideration and resultantly adopts a concept of "essential form" (jeonhyeong) in place of "original form" (wonhyeong). This new concept allows for any transformations that may take place in the environment surrounding the intangible heritage concerned, and is intended to mitigate the rigidity of the concept of "original form." However, it should be noted that "essential form," which is manifested as the unique significance, knowledge, and skills delivered by the intangible heritage concerned, should be maintained according to the guidelines and principles related to heritage conservation. Therefore, the new concept can be understood not as a rupture, but more as a continuum of the concept of "original form."