제주평화연구원

Jeju Island and Its Ties with UNESCO

  [caption id="" align="alignright" width="152"] Suh Chung Ha
   President of the Jeju Peace Institute Chairman of th Executive Committee, Jeju Forum[/caption]

For Jeju Island, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has a special meaning. The UNESCO logo and that of the World Heritage Convention adorn various locations throughout the island. Jeju Island’s triple designation as a UNESCO World Heritage site, Global Geopark, and Biosphere Reserve have paved the way for the island to emerge as a world-renowned tourist destination. In addition, the folk traditions of the island have been inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, including Chilmeoridang Yeongdeunggut, an annual ritual to the Goddess of the Winds, and haenyeo, Jeju’s renowned traditional women divers. It was in December 2016 that the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage decided to inscribe haenyeo culture on the List at its 11th session. Many of us may remember how delightful it was to learn of the decision. Jeju culture is now recognized as a universal value for humanity.

Audrey Azoulay, the Director-General of UNESCO, attended the Jeju Forum to deliver a special lecture on June 28. It was unusual that the head of UNESCO decided to attend this forum so early after taking office late last year. In fact, because of the 42nd World Heritage Committee session in Bahrain scheduled for June-July 2018, she was thought unlikely to participate in the forum. However, her personal aspiration to experience Jeju Island, home to five UNESCO heritage sites, has made this visit possible.

The visit by the head of UNESCO had a special importance for the nation’s diplomacy as well. UNESCO has a longstanding relationship with Korea. Since the Republic of Korea joined UNESCO in 1950, it was one of the most important international organizations for South Korean diplomacy up until the country became an official UN member in 1991. In the Cold War era, UNESCO was one of the main diplomatic battlegrounds between the two Koreas. When the Republic of Korea became a member of the UNESCO Executive Board, the organization’s key body, for the first time, Korean diplomats including myself had to struggle with the persistent anti-South Korean campaign by North Korea and the Communist bloc to win the diplomatic battle.

In comparison with that time, we are seeing a sea change in Korea’s status in UNESCO given the South Korean Ambassador to UNESCO is in charge of the chairmanship of the Board. The presence of the UNESCO Director-General at the Jeju Forum is testament to South Korea’s heightened status.

UNESCO deals with politically and socially sensitive issues and therefore upholds its position as an important international organization for Korea. The organization is a platform where the interests of the member states often fiercely clash. For example, even the United States, though it is a superpower, decided to withdraw from UNESCO two times in the past because of its dissatisfaction with the organization’s decisions after it failed to accomplish its diplomatic goals. Korea, too, has been often engaged in intense diplomatic clashes at UNESCO with its neighboring countries over historical issues. The inscription of the five heritage sites of Jeju Island on the UNESCO lists was an outcome of the Korean government’s successful multilateral diplomacy. That is another reason why we attach importance to the UNESCO Director-General’s presence at the Jeju Forum.

Last but not least, her attendance at the Jeju Forum deserves our special attention because of the Korean government’s all-out efforts to establish permanent peace on the peninsula. What is occurring on the Korean peninsula corresponds to UNESCO’s goals. UNESCO has a unique role and position in contributing to world peace by promoting international cooperation in education, science and culture. Her decision to attend the Jeju Forum this year represents the spirit of UNESCO to contribute to the promotion of peace on the peninsula.

In this regard, Director-General Azoulay’s presence at the Jeju Forum, marking the first ever visit by the head of the UNESCO to Jeju Island, helped highlight the value Jeju has preserved as the Island of World Peace. Consequently, the Jeju Forum has significantly contributed to elevating the cooperative and friendly ties between the island and UNESCO to a new dimension.