ICHCAP

The 3rd Working Committee Meeting for ASEAN-ROK Cultural Heritage Cooperation co-hosted by the Cultural Heritage Administration of the Republic of Korea, Ministry of Culture of the Kingdom of Thailand, and the ASEAN Secretariat was held in Chiang Rai, Thailand from 12 to 13 December 2023.

This Meeting focused on specific contents and plans of the first cooperation project of the ASEAN-ROK Working Committee on Cultural Heritage Cooperation (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Committee’) on the ASEAN-ROK shared cultural heritage, that will be implemented in earnest from 2024 based on the result of the 2nd Committee Meeting (held in May 2023, Jakarta), which was also reflected in the Chairman’s Statement of the 24th ASEAN-ROK Summit (in September 2023, Jakarta).
* ASEAN-ROK Working Committee on Cultural Heritage Cooperation is the inter-governmental committee composed of 24 members of cultural heritage officials from 10 ASEAN Member States, ROK, and the ASEAN Secretariat, inaugurated in November 2022

The Cultural Heritage Administration (hereinafter referred to as the ‘CHA’) introduced the plan and mid- to long-term roadmap for the ASEAN-ROK cultural heritage cooperation and received the feedback from the ASEAN Member States. Currently, CHA is preparing for the project proposal under the title of ‘Strengthening ASEAN-ROK Socio-cultural Solidarity through Cooperation on Shared Cultural Heritage (tentative title)’ and plan to apply for the ASEAN-Korea Cooperation Fund for the implementation of the project.
In addition, the Vietnamese winning team of the ‘2023 ASEAN-ROK Youth Metaverse Idea Contest (Focusing on Cultural Heritage)’, which CHA collaborated with the Busan IT Industry Promotion Agency from August to November this year as the first pilot project of the Committee, introduced their idea on cultural heritage safeguarding through combining cultural heritage and digital technology.

The Committee has successfully completed its first pilot project within a year since its establishment, and achieved a consensus on the first cooperation project on ASEAN-ROK shared cultural heritage. Using this as a stepping stone, CHA plans to hold an international symposium in the field of cultural heritage in 2024 with commemorating the 35th Anniversary of the ASEAN-ROK Dialogue Relations and to share the vision for the ASEAN-ROK cultural heritage cooperation.

CHA will make a continuous effort to form a consensus on the need of strengthening the ASEAN-ROK cultural heritage cooperation and to share related information with different stakeholders through various platforms such as information meeting of domestic network among ASEAN-related organizations in Korea, advisory committee meetings, and policy meetings with ASEAN Ambassadors to Korea.