The Content Analysis and the Changing Patterns of the Laws on the Protection of Cultural Heritage in North Korea

Rapid changes started to happen to the policies to protect and manage cultural heritage in North Korea in the second half of the 2000s. North Korea s interest in its cultural heritage was reflected in ≪The Law on Protection of Cultural Property≫ revised and complemented in 2009 and ≪The Law on the Protection of Cultural Heritage≫ enacted in 2012 based on it. The North Korean laws related to the protection of cultural heritage are changing in a direction of increasing systemicity, segmentation, professionalism, and efficiency. The management of ‘Immaterial Cultural Heritage’(similar concept of Intangible cultural heritage in South Korea) through those laws has brought about many changes from the ‘concept of cultural heritage’ to ‘excavation and collection’ and ‘evaluation and registration’ and resolved the biggest difference in the management of “cultural heritage” between North and South Korea.Those recent changes are the results of reflecting the recommendations by UNESCO before the registration of ‘Historic Monuments and Sites in Kaesong’ as ‘UNESCO World Heritage’ in 2013 and the reality of current cultural heritage management in North Korea. However, value judgments are included in the management of cultural heritage, which means that there are differences between ‘to their preservation in original state’ in North Korea and ‘to preserve them in their original state’ in South Korea.It is an unrealistic wish to make first-hand contact with, enjoy, and preserve the cultural heritage of North Korea in South Korea, whose systematic researches based on various materials including the concerned laws and research findings will be able to make a contribution to the preservation and transmission of cultural heritage of North Korea.