▲ Experts from Korea and abroad attend the symposium

An international symposium was held on October 1 at Gongju National Museum in commemoration of the designation of the Baekje Historic Areas as UNESCO World Heritage. The symposium was attended by representatives of ICOMOS and experts from Korea and abroad.

Themed “Universal Value of Baekje Historic Areas as World Heritage and Preservation and Care” the symposium included a keynote speech as well as presentations and discussions.

In the keynote speech, Noh Jung-guk, chairman of Baekje Historic Areas Conservation and Management Committee, talked about “the Universal Value of the Baekje Historic Areas and Designation as World Heritage -- the Beginning, the Fruit, and the Future.”

“With their designation, the Baekje Historic Areas have become a heritage shared by all members of the global community and should be preserved and appreciated by all,” Chairman Noh said, suggesting five major future tasks: (1) integrated management of the Baekje Historic Areas as pledged prior to the application for inscription on the World Heritage List; (2) research on the history of Baekje and comparative analysis of the historical relics of Korea, China, and Japan, including the establishment of the Baekje Research Institute; (3) restructuring of cities where the Baekje Historic Areas are located; (4) increase of cultural homogeneity of the five local governments involved in the registration and management of the areas, and; (5) building of a network of educational and academic institutes.

Speakers included Alfredo Conti, Vice President of ICOMOS Argentina, Dinu Bumbaru, Policy Director of Heritage Montreal, Guo Zhan, Vice President of ICOMOS China, Gordon Fulton, a member of the ICOMOS Canada Advisory Committee, Giora Solar, a member of the ICOMOS Israel Executive Committee, and Wang Lijun, a member of the ICOMOS China Executive Committee.

Vice President Conti of ICOMOS Argentina spoke first on “designing effective strategies to promote tourism for World Heritages” and suggested four basic factors that need to be considered in formulating tourism strategies for World Heritages -- products, capacity, suggestions, and solutions ? as well as the roles of different stakeholders.

Conti added that establishing viable tourism strategies requires efforts to strike a balance between the preservation and transmission of outstanding universal value and the right of the current generation to benefit from the value as well as the collective efforts of different stakeholders including local communities.

The subsequent discussion session was chaired by Rii Hae Un, President of ICOMOS Korea. The discussion was joined by Choi, Jae Heon, Secretary-General of ICOMOS Korea, Chung Kwang Yong, professor at Korea National University of Cultural Heritage, Yi Dong-ju, senior researcher of the Baekje Culture Foundation and Jo Du-won, senior researcher of the Namhansanseong Fortress World Heritage Center, all of whom offered their views and ideas.

"The international symposium provided a venue for experts from Korea and abroad to review the universal value of the Baekje Historic Areas and to find ways to preserve and protect the Baekje Historic Areas by looking into cases of other World Heritages in other countries,” a representative of the Chungcheongnam-do Provincial Government said.