Relationship between UNESCO and martial arts

Write by Dr. Heo
 UNESCO World Intangible Cultural Heritage and Martial Arts
2009 World Martial arts Aeminar,  World Martial Arts Academy

 

World martial arts have focused on national perspective during the 19th and 20th centuries. These days, the political and social issues in the Olympic game events or martial arts are still emphasized. Even though the competitionalization of martial arts is tried outwardly, the modern cultural phenomena have not been avoided yet. Even though we cannot say that all these trends are bad, the martial arts industry has faced another challenge as the World Martial Arts Union was accepted as the UNESCO advisory organization. After all, a new domain called ‘martial arts’ has emerged as the world intangible cultural heritage. The acceptance of World Martial Arts Union as the UNESCO advisory organization is a great achievement unlike the just interest in world cultural heritage. The World Martial Arts Union has grown into an organization that reviews the value of each nation’s martial arts as world intangible cultural heritage. This kind of success has been possible thanks to the diplomatic power and leadership of So Byeong-yong, a former UN ambassador and president of the World Martial Arts Union. The World Martial Arts Union was founded in Chung-ju in October 2002 when the entire nation focused on the Olympic game events and cultural contents. The organization was registered as the private agency of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Republic of Korea) in 2003 and reborn into a corporation of the ministry in 2008. In fact, there were 6-year unknown efforts behind these administrative processes. There was a concern about if Japan and China would not welcome Korea’s leading role in the international society. The president Mr. So has visited all UNESCO organizations and each nation and explained the cultural value of martial arts. Because of his strenuous efforts, China and Japan started to show a positive attitude toward the World Martial Arts Union’s activities. In fact, these countries’ support was confirmed at the UNESCO Conference in June 2007.

In 2009, the World Martial Arts Union was officially accepted as the UNESCO cultural organization. Mr. Koichiro Matsuura, the UNESCO secretary general, officially admitted the position of the World Martial Arts Union (‘UNESCO Working-level NGO’) for the protection of intangible cultural heritage through the official letter dated on April 24, 2009.

As a result, as a UNESCO Working-level NGO, the World Martial Arts Union will carry out the following duties:

△ The excavation and protection of each nation’s martial arts heritage and the collection and review of the related resources
△ Recommendation of the preservation and protection of the cultural heritage to each nation

As a result, the World Martial Arts Union will make a contribution to sharing the values of intangible cultural heritage on traditional martial arts. The role and capability of the World Martial Arts Union were highly praised at the 3rd Session of the Intergovernmental Committee of Intangible Heritage of the UNESCO in Istanbul in approval of advisory activities and mutual cooperation for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage, which played a big role in acquiring the position of NESCO Working-level NGO. In other words, the World Martial Arts Union was officially admitted as an international private organization by the UNESCO.

The World Martial Arts Union has upgraded its basic relationship with UNESCO to an official relationship. Because the current position could be canceled anytime, however, more active activities are required. The UNESCO can review and evaluate each union’s performance on a regular basis and extend or cancel its status based on the evaluation. In order for the World Martial Arts Union to settle down as a firm international martial arts organization, it should actively participate in international affairs and cooperation and response to international requests with sincerity.

From now on, the World Martial Arts Union will review if each nation’s martial arts are eligible to be listed on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage. As the UNESCO’s advisory committee, it will also play a role of an international organization and world federation. For this, the World Martial Arts Union needs to build a systematic cooperative system with international organizations such as UNESCO, stay competitive, promote intergovernmental exchange of martial arts and academic exchange and give a support for development of martial arts culture. To carry out all these duties and roles, the World Martial Arts Academy was established.