Strengthening Management of Godo Historic Site... Installation of CCTV and Artifact Storage Facility

Emergency Status Inspection Triggered by Theft of Stone Lantern at Cheongwansaji
"Expand Private Land Acquisition and Establish Maintenance Plans for Unmanaged Historic Sites"

Management of nationally designated cultural heritage sites in Gyeongju, Gongju, Buyeo, and Iksan will be strengthened. The Cultural Heritage Administration recently conducted an urgent inspection of 44 difficult-to-manage sites among 112 ancient capital historic sites, following the theft incident of the stone lantern at Cheongwansa Temple Site in Gyeongju, the agency announced on the 22nd.

Three major improvement measures will be implemented. First, by 2023, 2.5 billion KRW will be invested to install advanced disaster prevention intelligent closed-circuit television (CCTV) systems at 27 locations, including Gyeongju Mangdeoksa Temple Site, where it is difficult to station security personnel. A dedicated cultural heritage management system will be established at the integrated control centers of local governments.

At 19 sites, including Buyeo Gwanbuk-ri Ruins, where maintenance has already been completed, cataloging work will be promoted to prevent theft of relics. At seven sites, including Gyeongju Bomun-dong Temple Site, 3.1 billion KRW will be spent by 2023 to conduct detailed surveys of scattered exposed relics and to install and operate relic storage facilities.

The Cultural Heritage Administration stated, "We plan to revise the 'National Subsidy Project Planning Guidelines' to include a comprehensive maintenance plan from the excavation stage so that the maintenance of historic sites can be obligatorily linked and implemented, and apply this from next year's budget review." They added, "We will increase the budget for purchasing private land by 10% annually to expand acquisitions and promptly establish maintenance plans for unmaintained historic sites."