Assemblyman Lee Byung-hoon Proposes Amendment for Legal Incorporation of Korea Cultural Heritage Policy Institute

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] Congressman Lee Byung-hoon (Democratic Party of Korea · National Assembly Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee · Gwangju Dong-gu Nam-gu Eul) announced on the 20th that he has taken the lead in proposing a partial amendment bill to the Cultural Heritage Protection Act to legalize the 'Korean Cultural Heritage Policy Research Institute' as a statutory corporation.

The bill aims to strengthen the professional and systematic policy research functions in the field of cultural heritage.

Recently, there has been a growing need for systematic policy development and research and development of policy alternatives to set mid- to long-term policy directions that match the changing policy environment surrounding cultural heritage preservation and management, such as increased public interest and enjoyment of cultural heritage and climate change. However, the Cultural Heritage Administration has been consistently criticized for having weaker policy research functions compared to other ministries.

Currently, government-affiliated policy research institutions include 24 organizations such as the 'Korea Development Institute' under the Act on Government-Funded Research Institutions and the 'Korea Culture and Tourism Institute' under the Framework Act on Culture.

These research institutions, as statutory corporations, play a significant role in policy development and support for each ministry through national budget input.

The Korean Cultural Heritage Policy Research Institute is the only 'cultural heritage policy research institution' in Korea, established by the Korean Cultural Heritage Foundation under the Cultural Heritage Administration, but it is a civil corporation under the Civil Act. Unlike government policy research institutions established by individual laws as statutory corporations, it has a weak financial foundation, which limits its operation and research.

Congressman Lee said, "Through the amendment of the Cultural Heritage Protection Act, legal grounds for the statutory incorporation of the Cultural Heritage Policy Research Institute should be established to actively respond to the changing cultural heritage environment and to ensure that cultural heritage policy research and development, which matches the qualitative changes in policy functions such as strengthening convergence between fields, is conducted professionally and stably."

He added, "By strengthening policy research capabilities and competitiveness in the fields of preservation, management, utilization, and education of cultural heritage, not only will the complete preservation of cultural heritage value be achieved, but new value creation will increase the public's enjoyment and utilization of cultural heritage, realizing sustainable protection. I will do my best to pass the bill so that the Cultural Heritage Policy Research Institute can support cultural heritage policies as the center of cultural heritage policy research functions."

If the amendment passes and the Korean Cultural Heritage Policy Research Institute becomes a statutory corporation, it is expected to carry out more systematic and in-depth projects such as investigation and research for the establishment and support of policies on cultural heritage preservation, management, utilization, and education; research and development of disaster prevention policies for the safety management of cultural heritage; research on administrative improvement and mid- to long-term future development plans; and research on cultural heritage preservation and management foundations in preparation for unification.

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