Two Koreas jointly list traditional wrestling as UNESCO heritage
Two people wrestle in a ssireum match on sand in this file photo. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Nov 26, 2018, Yonhap. “Ssireum,” traditional Korean wrestling dating to the Three Kingdoms period (A.D. 220–280), was inscribed Monday as an intangible cultural asset by UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee, the Cultural Heritage Administration (CHA) said, reported the Yonhap.
The decision was made during the 13th session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, currently taking place in Port Louis, Mauritius.
This is the first joint inscription by South and North Korea of an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity of UNESCO. The sport’s English spelling is ssireum in the South and “ssirum” in the North.
The two had submitted their own applications, but the committee decided to merge the two bids.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Seoul suggested the joint application after a historic inter-Korean summit in April, to which Pyongyang positively responded.
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