A Historic Breakthrough: Safeguarding the Endangered Physical Culture of Kaesong Through Oral History of a 94-Year-Old Elder

World Subak Federation and Soongsil University Research Team Announce the Success of “The 2026 Kaesong Intangible Physical Heritage Urgent Safeguarding Project”

Global Heritage News] A critical chapter of northern Korean cultural heritage, which faced immediate risk of permanent loss due to the geopolitical division of the Korean Peninsula, has been dramatically rescued and documented.

The World Subak Federation (President Han Sung-ho) officially announced the successful completion of a comprehensive field documentation project. The initiative successfully recorded the oral histories, traditional knowledge, and physical demonstrations of Elder Lee Sang-eun, a 94-year-old Kaesong-born community member, illuminating the traditional martial and physical culture of the historical Kaesong region during the early 20th century.

Stepping beyond the scope of a typical martial arts demonstration, this academic milestone was accomplished under the strict framework of “The 2026 Kaesong Intangible Physical Heritage Urgent Safeguarding Project.” To ensure international credibility and academic rigor, the project was structured through a collaborative governmental, academic, and institutional research alliance:

Organizer: Kaesong History, Culture and Arts Research Institute (operating under the Five Northern Korean Provinces Administration of the Republic of Korea)
Principal Investigator: PhD Research Fellow, Soongsil University
Field Researcher: Song Jun-ho (World Subak Federation)

During the extensive video-recorded interviews, Elder Lee provided priceless, firsthand testimonies regarding the vivid practices of “Subak” (traditional striking), “Mindung Ssireum” (the historical, beltless variant of northern Korean wrestling), traditional archery, and “Seokjeon” (stone-throwing communal games) as practiced in pre-war Kaesong. Field Researcher Song Jun-ho, whose authoritative publications on Subak are formally catalogued within the official Kaesong Archive, led the technical verification of the recorded physical movements.

“Documenting and digitally preserving the memories of a 94-year-old elder after eight decades of national division represents a textbook example of ‘Urgent Safeguarding Measures’ strongly encouraged by the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Convention,” stated the research team.

Moving forward, the World Subak Federation will integrate these exclusive oral history videos and data sets into its global platform at https://subak.lovable.app/. Furthermore, the research papers will be published on Zenodo, the global open-science repository, securing an international Digital Object Identifier (DOI) to firmly establish the global authority and academic legitimacy of Kaesong’s physical heritage in the international community.

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https://subak.lovable.app