North Korea Applied Two Years Ago... Will South Korea's Bid Fall Through? "It Has Become Difficult"

Heo Min, Administrator of the National Heritage Administration, suddenly posted a message on his social media today.

He stated that as a result of the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage evaluation, South Korea's traditional manufacturing technology for Hanji, along with North Korea's application for "traditional martial art Taekwondo," is expected to receive a recommendation for inscription tomorrow.

North Korea's application for Taekwondo's inscription has been an issue since two years ago.

This is because it was belatedly revealed back in March 2024 that North Korea had independently applied to register Taekwondo as a UNESCO intangible cultural heritage.

At the time, a private organization pursuing the joint inter-Korean inscription of Taekwondo claimed that although positive discussions had been underway with high-ranking North Korean officials since 2022, the plan fell through due to the government's lukewarm attitude.

[Choi Jae-choon / Head of the Korea Taekwondo UNESCO Promotion Group: We have records in the Ministry of Unification showing that we have been meeting with President Ri Yong-son of the International Taekwondo Federation since 2022. Since we reported everything, I visited the Ministry of Unification, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and the National Heritage Administration...]

Administrator Heo stated that while they submitted the application for inscription last March and made efforts for a joint inscription, it has become difficult due to conditions such as inter-Korean relations.

[Ahn Ho / Spokesperson for the National Heritage Administration: (North Korea) applied first, and didn't we apply in 2026? Because of that, and since there haven't been favorable (political) environments or similar developments since then, it seems there were no results regardless of what efforts were made.]

Administrator Heo stated that even if North Korea's final inscription is confirmed this coming December, he will work to ensure South Korea is also inscribed separately.

Taekwondo's name and system were formed in South Korea during the 1950s and 1960s and are known to have spread to North Korea in the 1980s, which is one of the reasons domestic Taekwondo practitioners are sensitive to this issue.

Taekwondo as a North Korean Martial Art?... Likely to Be Independently Inscribed as a UNESCO Heritage (November 2, 2026, 8 News)

(Reported by Lee Joo-hyung | Produced by Bae Jun-hwi | VJ: Oh Se-kwan | Video Editing: Kim Jong-tae | Produced by SBS Digital News)

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