By Lee Dasom 

The National Archives of Korea (NAK) under the Ministry of the Interior and Safety on Dec. 25 announced its continued cooperation with UNESCO in operations through 2023 based on the Dec. 23 signing of an agreement designating the International Centre For Documentary Heritage (ICDH) as a UNESCO Category 2 center.

As the world's first institution for international cooperation in global documentary heritage, the ICDH was launched in 2020 under an agreement between Seoul and UNESCO.

In April, UNESCO approved the continuation of the ICDH's Category 2 status at its 221st executive board meeting in Paris.

Through this renewal, Korea secured the basis for continuing activities as an international hub for cooperation in records, supervising and backing 570 items inscribed on UNESCO's Memory of the World Register over the next eight years.

NAK plans to further enhance accessibility and use by integrating information on documentary heritage projects, inscription data, and academic and capacity-building resources through assistance in the setup of the integrated digital platform for the register, a core ICDH initiative.

It also plans to upgrade its management system through monitoring UNESCO's documentary heritage.

"The ICDH is the world's only international cooperation institution in documentary heritage, and this renewal of the agreement demonstrates Korea's standing as a global records power," NAK Director Lee Yong-chul said. "The government will also actively support the future development of documentary heritage worldwide based on its advanced experience in records management."

dlektha0319@korea.kr