Cultural Heritage Administration Administrator Choi Eungchon (right) and Hang Peou, director general at Cambodia's APSARA National Authority, on Feb. 19 show the memorandum of understanding they signed at the National Palace Museum in Seoul's Jongno-gu District. (Cultural Heritage Administration)

By Lee Dasom

The nation will help preserve and restore Angkor Wat, a Buddhist temple complex in Cambodia that is the Southeast Asian country's leading cultural heritage.

The Cultural Heritage Administration (CHA) on Feb. 19 at the National Palace Museum of Korea in Seoul's Jongno-gu District held high-level talks with the Authority for the Protection of the Site and Management of the Region of Angkor, aka APSARA National Authority, which is the Cambodian public organization in charge of preserving and managing Angkor Wat.

Both sides also signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on exchange and cooperation in cultural heritage.

The MOU is a follow-up measure to a joint media statement by CHA and APSARA National Authority released in Cambodia in February last year. The agreement's main purpose is to have both sides share accumulated technologies, experiences and data on the preservation, management, use and digitization of cultural heritage, hold workshops, and develop cultural heritage policies, systems and management.

Under the MOU, CHA will take part from this year in the three-year maintenance and repair project for the northeast base of Angkor Wat's central sanctuary of Bakan. The body will also renovate tourist facilities at the complex including a viewing staircase and build a promotional center.

A CHA official said, "This project will mark a milestone in the Republic of Korea's history of official development assistance (ODA) in cultural heritage."

CHA will also boost Korea's role as a global pivotal nation in cultural heritage by advancing and strategically expanding ODA projects to other regions like Machu Picchu in Peru and Africa.

dlektha0319@korea.kr