The Korea Heritage Service (Administrator Heo Min) announced Tuesday that it submitted nomination files to UNESCO headquarters on March 31 for the inscription of two items on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity: "The Insam Tradition: Knowledge, Skills, and Cultural Practices Related to Ginseng in the Republic of Korea" and "Taekwondo: A Dojang-centered Korean Training Tradition."
"Insam (ginseng) culture" is an intangible heritage formed through a way of life that respects nature and wishes for health and longevity. It encompasses not only ginseng cultivation and processing techniques but also diverse everyday practices including religious beliefs and rituals, folktales, recipes, and gift-giving customs. Ginseng symbolizes a healthy life and the bonds of family communities, and as a reciprocal medium for wishing one another well-being, it has been passed down in various forms across regions and generations through hands-on experience and education.
The inscription of "insam culture" will be decided at the 23rd Session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, scheduled for December 2028.
Taekwondo is a dojang-centered community training culture in which techniques, norms, and the values of practice are transmitted across generations. It is built on communal bonds formed as masters (sabum) and trainees practice together in relationships of mutual respect and cooperation at the dojang. Based on neighborhood-level training environments, practitioners of diverse age groups engage in taekwondo, and some grow into masters who go on to teach the next generation, sustaining a cyclical system of transmission.
