culture

The protection of historical heritage is gaining momentum across the country.

In the DPRK, a historical heritage protection campaign is waged as an all-people undertaking in spring and autumn every year.

Kaesong Municipality successfully completed the repair of the kerbs covering hundreds of square metres in the front yard of the Mausoleum of King Wang Kon, the founder king of the Koryo Kingdom which existed as a feudal state of Korea between 918 and 1392, and that of tanchong, or colourful painting, of the gate of the mausoleum and the Nam (south) Gate.

Now it pushes ahead with the project for preserving historical heritage, including the roof repair of a gatehouse of the Koryo Museum, which houses many relics showing the development of history, the economy, culture and others in the period of Koryo.

Marked successes have been achieved in South Hwanghae Province in the preservation and management of historical sites and relics and the exploration and restoration of intangible cultural heritage elements.

The province inspected and grasped in detail the actual situation of the preservation and management of historical sites and relics in cities and counties. On the basis of that, it repaired the Puyong Pavilion in Haeju City built in the early 16th century, a precious cultural heritage site showing the outstanding architectural skills of the Korean people.

The working people in Haeju dredged the lotus pond there, cleared the surrounding areas covering thousands of square metres and finished the repair of tanchong of the building in a short time.

The province also overhauled the Woljong Temple in Mt Kuwol, a celebrated mountain on the west coast of Korea, and the Mausoleum of King Kogugwon, a tomb with murals from the period of Koguryo, in Anak County.

Besides, it registered folk song "Haeju Arirang", traditional foods like rice boiled with Kangnyong oysters, grass and snail crafts and others as national and local intangible cultural heritage elements and presented them to the recent Intangible Cultural Heritage Exhibition-2026.

Ryanggang Province has also put efforts into the protection and management of historical relics and sites.

The province restored the newly-unearthed old tombs on the shore of Lake Chon on Mt Paektu and in Taehongdan County to their original state and newly built more than 10km-long roads for visitors. Now it forges ahead with the project for repairing tanchong and overhauling the roofs of the old buildings.

And as part of its efforts to preserve and manage old fortresses, it set up new granite signposts and explanatory boards in over 20 old fortresses this year.

Meanwhile, a research group of the History Faculty of Kim Il Sung University recently unearthed a tomb with murals dating back to the period of Koryo in the township area of Jangphung County, Kaesong Municipality.

The excavation of the mural tomb made it possible to study the history and culture of Koryo at a new high stage and demonstrate with new material evidence the historical fact that the culture of Koryo inherited that of Koguryo (the first feudal state of Korea that existed from 277 BC to AD 668).