Assemblyman Lee Byung-hoon: "Regional 'Concentration' of Cultural Heritage Committee Members Requires Consideration of Fairness"

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] Congressman Lee Byung-hoon (The Democratic Party of Korea·Gwangju Dong-gu Nam-gu Eul) pointed out the serious regional concentration of cultural heritage committee members during the ‘2023 Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee Work Report’ by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Cultural Heritage Administration, and urged consideration of regional equity when selecting committee members.

The current Cultural Heritage Protection Act stipulates that the Cultural Heritage Committee under the Cultural Heritage Administration shall be established to investigate and deliberate on matters such as ▲Basic Cultural Heritage Plan ▲Designation and cancellation of nationally designated cultural heritage ▲Excavation and evaluation of buried cultural heritage ▲Designation of cultural heritage protection zones.

Since the designation of real estate cultural heritage, excavation of buried cultural heritage, and designation of cultural heritage protection zones, which are deliberated by the Cultural Heritage Committee, impose restrictions on property owners' exercise of property rights and have a significant impact on the lives of local residents, the composition of cultural heritage committee members ensuring fairness and objectivity is of utmost importance.

However, among the 99 members of the Cultural Heritage Committee, composed of 9 subcommittees, 45 members are from the metropolitan area (Seoul, Gyeonggi, Incheon), accounting for 45.5% of the total, revealing a serious concentration in specific regions.

Even when considering the regional distribution of nationally designated cultural heritage such as national treasures, treasures, historic sites, and natural monuments, the metropolitan area’s distribution rate is only 35.1%, about one-third of the total, whereas the Honam and Gyeongsang regions’ distribution rate is 48.6%, nearly half of all nationally designated cultural heritage, but the number of cultural heritage committee members from these regions is only 25.2%.

Congressman Lee said, “The Cultural Heritage Administration claims to consider gender and region in the selection and appointment process of cultural heritage committee members, but the results show otherwise,” and added, “Since the Cultural Heritage Committee is an organization that makes key decisions on the preservation, management, and utilization of cultural heritage, it is necessary to resolve regional concentration in the composition of committee members to ensure fairness and objectivity.”

Meanwhile, the Cultural Heritage Administration is currently proceeding with the procedures for appointing the next committee members ahead of the expiration of the current members’ two-year term on April 30.

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