First Lady Kim Hye-kyung Attends Hanji Promotion Event in U.S., Expresses Hope for UNESCO Listing

First Lady Kim Hye-kyung, visiting San Francisco, U.S., attended a Hanji promotion event to support efforts for Hanji's inscription as a UNESCO World Heritage.

First Lady Kim attended the "Connecting Time and Future Through Hanji" event hosted by the Korean Cultural Center Los Angeles in San Francisco, where she viewed the exhibition and a Hanji fashion show.

"Hanji, which has embraced our history for hundreds of years, is expanding into new fields such as art, crafts, design, and fashion, showing beautiful possibilities that bridge the past and the future," First Lady Kim said. "I hope it will be inscribed as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity and shine even brighter as a precious asset shared by all humankind."

"Culture is the warmest language that connects people to people and hearts to hearts," she added. "I hope Hanji transcends eras and borders to be loved as a beautiful cultural heritage that connects the hearts of more people."

Cheongwadae Deputy Spokesperson Ahn Gwi-ryeong stated that First Lady Kim wore a Hanji leather bag by a South Korean startup and a dress that reinterprets the aesthetic of the hanbok using silk material.

"Following her visit to the Jeonju Millennium Hanji Center in Jeonbuk last February, First Lady Kim helped broaden international consensus by introducing the traditional values and modern applicability of Hanji in San Francisco, a global city of culture and art," Deputy Spokesperson Ahn explained.

The Korea Heritage Service is currently pursuing the inscription of "Traditional Knowledge, Technologies, and Cultural Practices of Hanji Manufacturing" on the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity list, with a decision expected around the end of this year.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.