The Cultural Heritage Administration will implement

a cooperative project on ASEAN-ROK cultural heritage

 - Cultural Heritage Administrator held a policy meeting in Korea with Ambassadors from ten ASEAN Member States, discussing achievements and future cooperation -

The Cultural Heritage Administration (Administrator Choi Eung-Chon) held a meeting with the ASEAN Committee in Seoul (ACS)* at 3 p.m. on Wednesday, 27 September, at Gajeongdang, Changdeok Palace, and shared the achievements of the ‘ASEAN-ROK Working Committee on Cultural Heritage Cooperation (hereinafter ‘the Committee’)’** which was inaugurated last November and discussed ways to strengthen ASEAN-ROK cultural heritage cooperation.

* ASEAN Committee in Seoul (ACS): A meeting composed of Ambassadors from ten ASEAN Member States to Korea—namely, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam
** ASEAN-ROK Working Committee on Cultural Heritage Cooperation: A cultural heritage consultative body between ASEAN and ROK, composed of twenty-four cultural heritage officials from ROK, ten ASEAN Member States, and the ASEAN Secretariat.

The Committee selected the ‘2023 ASEAN-ROK Youth Metaverse Idea Contest (Focusing on Cultural Heritage)’ as a pilot project in collaboration with Busan IT Industry Promotion Agency (BIPA), at the second Working Committee meeting held in Jakarta in May. The Committee also agreed to implement cooperation projects related to the ‘shared cultural heritage’ between ASEAN and ROK through the application to the ASEAN-Korea Cooperation Fund (AKCF) from 2024. The achievements of the Committee were also adopted in the Chairman’s statement of the twenty-fourth ASEAN-ROK Summit held in Jakarta on 6 September.

Administrator Mr. Choi emphasized the significance of the first cooperation project between ASEAN and ROK being implemented in 2024, which marks the thirty-fifth anniversary of establishing dialogue and relations between ASEAN and ROK and requested interest and support from the ASEAN Ambassadors to Korea. In addition, Mr. Choi mentioned that “the ROK government firmly supports the ASEAN centrality and ‘Korea-ASEAN Solidarity Initiative (KASI)’ and based on which, it is expected that the ASEAN-ROK cultural heritage cooperation will contribute to ASEAN’s sustainable development in social, cultural and economic fields.”

In response, ASEAN Ambassadors expressed their appreciation for the ROK government’s efforts to carry out various cultural heritage exchange and cooperation projects with ASEAN Member States, such as ODA projects in the field of cultural heritage and the joint nomination to the UNESCO intangible cultural heritage lists. It was hoped that cooperation in the field of cultural heritage between ASEAN and ROK will lead to more develop through the activities of the Committee.

With this meeting today, the Cultural Heritage Administration will focus on creating practical results for ASEAN-ROK cultural heritage cooperation projects based on continuous communication with ASEAN Ambassadors in Korea so that the ‘Korea-ASEAN Solidarity Initiative,’ the key foreign policy of the Korean government can be actively implemented in the cultural heritage field.

Attachment 1.Images from the ASEAN Committee in Seoul.