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Documentary highlights Korea's intangible cultural heritage

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A scene from the documentary
A scene from the documentary "Korea's Cultural Heritage" featuring "Jongmyo jeryeak," a royal ancestral ritual performed at Jongmyo shrine and its music / Courtesy of Korean Traditional Performing Arts Foundation

By Kwon Mee-yoo

The Korean Traditional Performing Arts Foundation is airing a 20-episode mini-documentary series on Korea's UNESCO-inscribed intangible cultural heritage.

This is part of the foundation's efforts to make use of and promote Korea's intangible cultural heritages, especially those recognized by UNESCO.

Korea has 21 entities inscribed on the list of UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, starting with "Jongmyo Jeryeak," a royal ancestral ritual performed at Jongmyo Shrine and its music, listed in 2001. Other notable intangible cultural heritages include pansori (traditional narrative singing style), ganggangsullae (circle dance under the full moon), weaving of mosi (fine ramie) in the Hansan region, the folk song Arirang, kimjang (the making and sharing of kimchi), the Jeju haenyeo (female divers), and ssireum (traditional Korean wrestling), which was jointly submitted with North Korea. Last year, Yeondeunghoe, a lantern lighting festival for Buddha's birthday, joined the list.

The first episode, aired Monday, looks at how the tradition of Jongmyo Jeryeak was passed down during Japan's colonial rule of the peninsula, defying the Japanese imperialist policy to obliterate Korean culture.

The second episode was on Cheoyongmu, or the dance of Cheoyong, which is derived from the tale of the mythical character Cheoyong from the Silla Kingdom (57 B.C.―935 A.D.). Kim Chung-woo, who is designated as the holder of the national Intangible Cultural Property No. 39, reenacts the 1,200-year-old dance.

A scene from the documentary
A scene from the documentary "Korea's Cultural Heritage" featuring "Cheoyongmu" or the dance of Cheoyong / Courtesy of Korean Traditional Performing Arts Foundation

The foundation joined hands with the public broadcasting network to produce-high quality videos conveying the attractions of Korea's intangible cultural heritages.

"This mini-documentary series focuses on storytelling. We expect the series to deliver the value of intangible cultural heritages to the public in an easy, enjoyable way," the foundation's president, Choung Soung-sook, said in a statement.

"Intangible cultural heritage is passed down orally and did not die away because it contains people's stories."

The short documentary is aired every Monday and Tuesday at 11:50 a.m. on KBS 1 through May 4 and is also available on the broadcaster's official website and YouTube channel.


Kwon Mee-yoo meeyoo@koreatimes.co.kr


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