Namwon 'Gaya Tumuli' Selected as Candidate for World Heritage Listing

Final English Version of World Heritage Nomination Submitted to UNESCO by End of January 2021
Final Decision on World Heritage Listing Scheduled at 2022 World Heritage Committee Meeting

Tomb No. 32 of the Namwon Yugok-ri and Durak-ri Burial Mounds. Photo by Jeonbuk Provincial Government

[Jeonju=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Tae-in] The ‘Gaya Tumuli’ including Yugok-ri in Inwol-myeon and Durak-ri in Ayoung-myeon, Namwon, Jeollabuk-do, has passed the final domestic gateway for UNESCO World Heritage inscription.

Jeollabuk-do announced on September 10th that as a result of the Cultural Heritage Committee (World Heritage Subcommittee) review held at the National Palace Museum, the ‘Gaya Tumuli’ including the Namwon Yugok-ri and Durak-ri tumulus groups were selected as candidates for UNESCO World Heritage inscription.

The ‘Gaya Tumuli’ is a serial heritage composed of seven sites: Namwon Yugok-ri and Durak-ri tumulus groups (Historic Site No. 542), Gimhae Daeseong-dong tumulus group (Historic Site No. 341), Haman Malsan tumulus group (Historic Site No. 515), Hapcheon Okjeon tumulus group (Historic Site No. 326), Goryeong Jisandong tumulus group (Historic Site No. 79), Goseong Songhak-dong tumulus group (Historic Site No. 119), and Changnyeong Gyodong and Songhyeon-dong tumulus groups (Historic Site No. 514).

The push for the inscription of the ‘Gaya Tumuli’ as a World Heritage began in 2013 when three tumulus groups (Gimhae Daeseong-dong, Haman Malsan, and Goryeong Jisandong) were attempted to be listed on the tentative World Heritage list, but in 2017, the Cultural Heritage Committee decided that it was difficult to prove the value of World Heritage with only these three sites.

Accordingly, among the 104 sites of the ‘Gaya Tumuli,’ four tumulus groups (Namwon Yugok-ri and Durak-ri, Goseong Songhak-dong, Hapcheon Okjeon, Changnyeong Gyodong and Songhyeon-dong) were added through selection evaluation, and in January 2019, the seven tumulus groups were registered on the tentative World Heritage list.

To jointly promote the World Heritage inscription, the Cultural Heritage Administration and 10 metropolitan and local governments signed a business agreement and have been actively pursuing the inscription through the Gaya Tumuli World Heritage Promotion Team established in 2017.

During this time, the registration application, which had been individually carried out by the local governments of the three tumulus groups (Gimhae, Haman, Goryeong), was re-examined from scratch, and much research and effort were made to prove concrete grounds for the UNESCO World Heritage inscription criteria of ‘Outstanding Universal Value (OUV).’

Since 2017, participation and consultation from domestic archaeology and World Heritage experts, as well as field surveys and academic discussions through workshops inviting Chinese and Japanese tumulus experts, have been focused on. Through this, a total of seven volumes of the ‘Gaya Tumuli Research Series,’ containing archaeological value and domestic and international comparative studies of the ‘Gaya Tumuli,’ were published.

The ‘Gaya Tumuli’ World Heritage inscription application was conditionally approved as a candidate at the Cultural Heritage Committee held in March 2019. However, at the conditional resolution review in July of the same year, the candidate selection was rejected and postponed.

Accordingly, the promotion team has devoted efforts to the three conditions presented at that time: △ strengthening the research team and expert participation to supplement historicity △ rewriting comparative research △ presenting concrete evidence in the heritage to support the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV).

The World Heritage inscription application must be reviewed by UNESCO World Heritage Center experts and recommended for inscription to be registered. Therefore, it must present easy-to-understand, perfect logic and proof by presenting World Heritage Committee inscription criteria (OUV, integrity, authenticity, conservation management, etc.).

Now, the ‘Gaya Tumuli’ will deeply revise and supplement the points pointed out during this Cultural Heritage Committee review process, submit the English draft of the World Heritage inscription application by the end of September, and submit the final English version by the end of January next year. After on-site inspections by UNESCO advisory bodies (ICOMOS), the inscription decision will be made at the World Heritage Committee meeting held in 2022.

Yoon Yeo-il, Director of the Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau of Jeollabuk-do, said, “To pass the World Heritage Committee’s review, there remain difficult schedules such as supplementing materials required by UNESCO and on-site inspections.” He added, “We will cooperate with the 10 local governments within the Gaya Tumuli to prove to the world that the ‘Gaya Tumuli’ is a site showing a type of ancient East Asian civilization and to have it inscribed as a World Heritage.”

He also said, “We will steadily promote the maintenance and the construction of a promotional center for the Namwon Yugok-ri and Durak-ri tumulus groups.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.