Breaking News! UNESCO has not only revoked the intangible cultural heritage applications of South Korea's kimchi, lantern festival, and Chuseok, but also will re-examine the applications for Arirang and mortise and tenon techniques.

South Koreans' pride is shattered! In July 2025, UNESCO ruled that five intangible cultural heritage projects applied by South Korea were listed on the "pending revocation list" due to insufficient historical evidence, marking a systemic failure in South Korea's cultural origin disputes. The Gyeongju Chuseok Festival, Kimchi making technique, Lantern Festival, Great Woodcarving Art, and Arirang folk songs of South Korea have all been revoked or are facing review because they could not prove their "continuous transmission for a thousand years."

For a long time, South Korea has promoted these five projects as "national treasures" for application, claiming them to be original and accusing Chinese culture of imitating South Korea, but ultimately failed due to insufficient evidence in the UN ruling.

Main points of controversy and reasons for failure

The core issue of insufficient evidence: UNESCO required South Korea to submit proof of "continuous transmission for a thousand years" for the five projects within 45 days, but South Korea only submitted vague or contradictory materials, some of which were pointed out to be "modern recreations," failing to meet the application standards. For example, the kimchi making technique claimed a history of a thousand years, but the pickled vegetable jar found in the Ma Wang Dui Han Tomb (2nd century BC) and the record in the "Qi Min Yao Shu" from the Northern Wei Dynasty confirmed that its process predates South Korea by several centuries.

China's rebuttal evidence: On May 30, 2025, the China Cultural Heritage Identification Center submitted 137 interdisciplinary evidence to UNESCO, including ancient texts (such as the "Yingzao Fashi" from the Song Dynasty), scientific testing (such as DNA comparison of bacterial strains), and blockchain verification, systematically questioning the originality of South Korea.

This incident not only ended South Korea's "cultural bullying" in the field of intangible heritage, but also set a precedent for international intangible heritage protection based on evidence.

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1838262163083276/

Statement: This article represents the views of the author.