Father Seon Ji-hoon, Who Led the Return of Jeongseon Hwacheop, Awarded the Silver Crown Cultural Medal

Former Onyang Folk Museum Director Shintakgeun Also Shoulder to Shoulder

Seon Ji-hoon, head of the Seoul branch of the Benedictine Order's Waegwan Monastery, who brought the painting album of Gyeomjae Jeong Seon into Korea, was awarded the Silver Crown Cultural Medal.

On the 8th, the Cultural Heritage Administration held an awards ceremony for contributors to cultural heritage protection at the Folk Theater Pungnyu of the Korea Cultural Heritage Foundation. This honor is given to those who have contributed to the preservation, research, and utilization of cultural heritage. This year's recipients include five Cultural Medals, four Presidential Citations, two organizations, and one Prime Minister's Citation.

Father Seon, who received the Silver Crown Cultural Medal, is a clergyman of the Waegwan Monastery belonging to the Benedictine Order, a Catholic monastic order. He was highly praised for discovering and preserving Korean cultural assets in Germany. A representative cultural asset is the painting album by Jeong Seon, known to have been collected during visits to Korea in 1911 and 1925 by Norbert Weber, abbot of the St. Ottilien Monastery in Germany. Since the 1990s, Father Seon persuaded the Waegwan Monastery and succeeded in securing the permanent loan return of the album in 2005. Between 2014 and 2015, he contributed to bringing 420 plant specimens from 100 years ago and a 17th-century census register from the Iksan region to Korea, and in 2018, he helped bring the country's first beekeeping textbook, 'Yangbong Yoji,' into Korea.

Shin Tak-geun, former director of the Onyang Folk Museum, who laid the foundation for the development of private museums nationwide, also received the Silver Crown Cultural Medal. He is an authority who devoted 47 years to the field of folk relics. He introduced a new framework for exhibition artifact catalogs and developed cultural products, leading the popularization of museums. He also promoted the UNESCO registration of various heritages through his activities as chairman of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Committee and other roles.

The Bronze Crown Cultural Medal was awarded to Nam Moon-hyun, professor emeritus at Konkuk University, who restored the Jagyeongnu (water clock) and contributed to the study of traditional science and technology, and to Kim Il-man, an Onggi master who restored disappearing traditional earthenware using traditional methods. Kim Gwi-yeop, holder of the Busan intangible cultural heritage Guduk Mangkkaesori, who contributed to the inheritance and integration of traditional culture in the local community, received the Ok Crown Cultural Medal.

Han Bok-ryeo, holder of the National Intangible Cultural Heritage for Joseon Dynasty royal court cuisine who systematized and popularized royal court food, Kim Kwe-jung, director of the Heo Jun Museum, and Jeong Mun-gil, holder of the Gyeongbuk intangible cultural heritage for Wa-jang (tile making), received the Presidential Citation. Nishimori Shiozo, honorary chairman of the Japan-Korea Friendship Association in Kochi Prefecture, Japan, who worked to have two calligraphy works of independence activist Ahn Jung-geun donated to Korea free of charge, also received the same award. In the group category, the 'Korea Tidal Flats World Heritage Registration Promotion Team,' which contributed to the inscription of 'Korea's Tidal Flats' as a UNESCO World Natural Heritage site last year, and 'Cyber Diplomatic Mission VANK,' which has led efforts to promote Korea's cultural heritage, were each awarded.

The Prime Minister's Citation was awarded to Kim Ki-song, who worked as the oldest (89 years old) cultural tourism guide in Gimpo City.