Mounir Bouchenaki, the UNESCO assistant director-general for culture, briefed reporters in Seoul about his five-day trip to the communist state.
"The state of conservation is not bad, but the tomb murals can be seriously damaged, mainly because of the humidity, if they are neglected," Bouchenaki said. "For the moment, they have not many visitors, so there is no real danger of an overflow of people, but there are technical questions concerning the support of the requests and also questions on how to better present and manage these tombs," he said.
The visit on Oct. 19-23 was made to convey an official certificate of UNESCO’s designation of Koguryo tombs as world heritage sites on behalf of the organization’s Director-General Koichiro Matsuura. Bouchenaki’s itinerary included visits to Dongmyeongwang Tomb (dating from the late fourth century-early fifth century), Deokheungri Tomb (early fifth century) and Gangseo tombs (second half of the sixth century to first half of seventh century) around North Korea. They were among about 60 Koguryo tomb murals scattered in the North and China that UNESCO listed as world heritage sites in July.
"My impression is that technicians and specialists in North Korea are very proud of maintaining and protecting carefully these paintings, so they put a glass wall inside the tombs," he said. Bouchenaki said he felt North Korea is badly in need of economic and technical assistance from South Korea and UNESCO to better preserve the tomb murals, which are the common cultural heritage of Koreans and the world.
He rated highly Pyongyang’s recent decision not to open a number of ancient tombs to the public for the moment. "Personally, as an archeologist who have worked many years for cultural heritage conservation, I think this is the right decision." Rodolfo Lujan Lunsford, a painting conservator and restorer working for UNESCO, said North Korea requested technical help from UNESCO in 2000 because of the humidity in Anak Tomb No. 3 in the village of Anak, South Hwanghae Province. Pyongyang officials at the time worried that a new reservoir created around the tomb may have caused the problem.
He visited the tomb along with three other conservation experts for a survey and found that the humidity is not because of the reservoir, but rain falling on top of the underground tomb. "The biggest problem of humidity is microorganisms like mold gathering on the wall," he said. "There should be a countermeasure against the problem." UNESCO has spent US$400,000 to help the North preserve the Koguryo tomb murals since 2000 under a $600,000-budget project that will run until 2005.
The news conference was part of an international symposium for the conservation of Koguryo tombs that opened in Seoul Monday organized by South Korea’s Cultural Heritage Administration, a sub-organization of the Culture Ministry, and UNESCO. Participants will adopt a recommendation on the last day of the symposium, Wednesday, based on the results of the symposium, organizers said.
(Yonhap,October 25)
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