Shinhyeop Collection Artifacts Announced for Registration as Daejeon City Registered Cultural Heritage

Records of Early Credit Union Operations, Including "Explanation of Credit Union Bookkeeping," Among Four Items Registered
Kim Yoon-sik: "We Will Strive to Expand the Social Value of Credit Unions Based on the Founding Spirit from 65 Years Ago"

▲ Cover of the Credit Union Bookkeeping Explanation by the National Credit Union Federation of Korea, preliminarily registered as a cultural heritage of Daejeon Metropolitan City. Provided by the National Credit Union Federation of Korea.

The National Credit Union Federation of Korea announced on the 20th that four artifacts, consisting of four items preserved by credit unions, have been preliminarily registered as cultural heritage assets of Daejeon Metropolitan City.

The artifacts preliminarily registered this time include ▲Explanation of Credit Union Bookkeeping ▲Introduction to Credit Unions and History of Seongga Credit Union ▲Hwanggan Credit Union Member Ledger ▲Hwanggan Credit Union Articles of Association, which are important records showing the early operational methods and actual conditions during the formation of credit unions.

The Cultural Heritage Division of Daejeon Metropolitan City evaluated these materials as "well demonstrating the historical and cultural value of the credit union movement in modern Korean financial history."

Accordingly, it was decided to register these materials under the name "National Credit Union Federation of Korea Collection" as cultural heritage assets.

Since 2023, credit unions have been promoting a project to register provincial cultural heritage assets. They conducted systematic research on the collected materials, prepared a research report based on this, applied for registration in 2024, and after about a year of review, the preliminary registration was decided.

This registration is especially meaningful as it is the result of efforts to reexamine the historical significance of the credit union movement and to preserve the cultural value related to the financial industry. In particular, the registration holds great symbolism in officially recognizing the historical process of credit unions growing autonomously in Korean society as financial cooperatives.

Kim Yoon-sik, Chairman of the National Credit Union Federation of Korea, stated, "Credit unions are significant as Korea's first financial cooperatives, established autonomously by the private sector rather than the government," and added, "It is meaningful that the historical and cultural value of the financial cooperative movement is officially recognized through this registration."

He continued, "Going forward, credit unions will continue to recall the founding spirit, realize inclusive finance for financially marginalized groups, and further expand the social value of credit unions."

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