National Heritage Administration to Train 1,900 "Primary Care Doctors" for Cultural Heritage...Building a Climate Disaster "Defensive Shield"

Training Care Professionals Through November
Strengthening Expertise with Dual Tracks in Administration and Field Practice
New "Disaster Prevention" Course Introduced This Year

Last year's National Heritage Care Professional Training Site

The National Heritage Administration is rolling up its sleeves to train on-site experts who will serve as the "primary care doctors" for Korea's cultural heritage. The goal is to build a defensive shield that goes beyond simple maintenance and enables proactive responses to increasingly frequent natural disasters driven by the climate crisis.

The National Heritage Administration announced on the 4th that, together with the Central Cultural Heritage Care Center and the Korea Cultural Heritage Care Association, it will implement the "2026 Professional Care Training Program" through November.

The "National Heritage Care Project," funded by the lottery fund, is a preventive system that continuously inspects more than 9,000 national heritage sites across the country. Rather than focusing on repairing damage after the fact, it has a strong preventive character, emphasizing advance inspection and management of site conditions.

This year’s training targets 1,928 employees from 25 centers nationwide. It will cover four areas in a dual-track format: (1) monitoring, (2) minor repairs, (3) routine management, and (4) administration and accounting.

The Central Cultural Heritage Care Center is in charge of administration and theory. It provides practical training in personnel and accounting, along with online introductory courses for new hires. The Korea Cultural Heritage Care Association is responsible for field techniques. It focuses on hands-on instruction in traditional repair methods such as Korean-style plastering, roof tile replacement, and traditional window and door papering, so that trainees can be deployed to sites immediately.

Last year's National Heritage Care professional training site

The notable feature of this year’s curriculum is the newly established disaster prevention training. As unpredictable climate-related disasters increase, the program places emphasis on strengthening practical disaster-prevention capabilities, including emergency response systems and the installation of safety belts in crisis situations. The administration also plans to expand the "visiting minor repair training," in which instructors travel directly to where trainees are located, in order to minimize gaps in on-site coverage.

An official from the National Heritage Administration said, "Care professionals trained through a systematic education program are the front-line defenders of national heritage protection," adding, "Through proactive preventive management, we will ensure that the public can fully enjoy our heritage."

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