PARIS, 22 July (BelTA - Yonhap) - A scenic mountain known for its beauty
that changes with the seasons, North Korea's Mount Kumgang has been
named a UNESCO World Heritage site.
UNESCO added Mount Kumgang to its World Heritage list following the 47th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in Paris on Sunday. The official name of the place entering the list is "Mt. Kumgang - Diamond Mountain from the Sea."
In May this year, the International Council on Monuments and Sites and the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which serve as advisory bodies to the World Heritage Committee, had recommended the inclusion of Mount Kumgang on the UNESCO World Heritage list.
UNESCO's website describes Mount Kumgang as "a strikingly beautiful mountain with numerous peaks and curious rocks amounting to some 1,2000, waterfalls and pools formed by crystal-like clear waters flowing from hundreds of gorges, as well as with the seascape stretched along the coastline."
"Mt. Kumgang is permeated with numerous legends and cultural relics handed over down through generations," the site also says.
After Mount Kumgang's inscription became official, members of the North Korean delegation rose from their seats and held up their national flag in celebration.
In an executive summary of Mount Kumgang's entry, UNESCO noted that the mountain is "a mixed natural and cultural heritage and also a cultural landscape, showing a variety of landscapes of exceptional natural beauty and significant evolving physiographical feature."
"The property contains Korea's most significant Buddhist mountain culture and tradition of mountain worship and pilgrimage over many centuries," it said. "The property boasts outstanding scenery of lofty peaks, valleys, waterfalls, pools, lagoons and dramatic seascapes."
The Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism in Seoul welcomed Mount Kumgang's inscription, calling it "a symbol of Korean Buddhism."
The Jogye Order also pointed out that Shingye Temple at Mount Kumgang had been restored in 2007 after being destroyed during the 1950-53 Korean War and had hosted joint Buddhist services for monks from both sides of the border.
"Hopefully, inter-Korean relations will improve after Mount Kumgang's inscription as a UNESCO World Heritage site, so that South Korean and North Korean monks will once again gather at Shingye Temple and pray together," the Jogye Order said.
North Korea submitted its application for World Heritage inscription in 2021, but the site's review was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The evaluation resumed this year.
Mount Kumgang is North Korea's third World Cultural Heritage site, joining the Complex of Koguryo Tombs inscribed in 2004 and the Historic Monuments and Sites in Kaesong in 2013.
In 2014, North Korea also had "Arirang, lyrical folk song in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea" inscribed as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
UNESCO added Mount Kumgang to its World Heritage list following the 47th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in Paris on Sunday. The official name of the place entering the list is "Mt. Kumgang - Diamond Mountain from the Sea."
In May this year, the International Council on Monuments and Sites and the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which serve as advisory bodies to the World Heritage Committee, had recommended the inclusion of Mount Kumgang on the UNESCO World Heritage list.
UNESCO's website describes Mount Kumgang as "a strikingly beautiful mountain with numerous peaks and curious rocks amounting to some 1,2000, waterfalls and pools formed by crystal-like clear waters flowing from hundreds of gorges, as well as with the seascape stretched along the coastline."
"Mt. Kumgang is permeated with numerous legends and cultural relics handed over down through generations," the site also says.
After Mount Kumgang's inscription became official, members of the North Korean delegation rose from their seats and held up their national flag in celebration.
In an executive summary of Mount Kumgang's entry, UNESCO noted that the mountain is "a mixed natural and cultural heritage and also a cultural landscape, showing a variety of landscapes of exceptional natural beauty and significant evolving physiographical feature."
"The property contains Korea's most significant Buddhist mountain culture and tradition of mountain worship and pilgrimage over many centuries," it said. "The property boasts outstanding scenery of lofty peaks, valleys, waterfalls, pools, lagoons and dramatic seascapes."
The Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism in Seoul welcomed Mount Kumgang's inscription, calling it "a symbol of Korean Buddhism."
The Jogye Order also pointed out that Shingye Temple at Mount Kumgang had been restored in 2007 after being destroyed during the 1950-53 Korean War and had hosted joint Buddhist services for monks from both sides of the border.
"Hopefully, inter-Korean relations will improve after Mount Kumgang's inscription as a UNESCO World Heritage site, so that South Korean and North Korean monks will once again gather at Shingye Temple and pray together," the Jogye Order said.
North Korea submitted its application for World Heritage inscription in 2021, but the site's review was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The evaluation resumed this year.
Mount Kumgang is North Korea's third World Cultural Heritage site, joining the Complex of Koguryo Tombs inscribed in 2004 and the Historic Monuments and Sites in Kaesong in 2013.
In 2014, North Korea also had "Arirang, lyrical folk song in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea" inscribed as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
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