Will 'Miracle of 1.23 million volunteers' be registered as Memory Of The World?

▲ This photo, provided by the South Chuncheong Province, shows Mallipo beach in Taean covered with oil in the December of 2007 on the top, and below, it shows the Mallipo beach 10 years after, in the December of 2017. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

▲ This photo, provided by the South Chungcheong Province, shows volunteers wiping the oil around the Mallipo beach in 2007. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

▲ This photo, shows Taen Oil damage overcoming memorial. (Yonhap)

SEOUL, April 6 (Yonhap) -- "The Miracle of Taean" that was created by 1.23 million volunteers 15 years ago has found its way to become registered in the Memory Of The World for Asia and the Pacific. 

South Chungcheong Province announced on the 5th that along with Samguk Yusa and Naebang-gasa, the record of the process of overcoming oil damage in Taean, were selected for the registration request of the UNESCO Memory of the World Asia-Pacific Regions list.

209,556 records were produced for the documents of overcoming the oil damage in Taean, which was a major oil spill of the oil tanker Hebei Spirit in South Korea on 7 December 2007, by the government, local government, private organizations and individuals.

The document records the success story of overcoming a large-scale environmental disaster in a short period of time due to the continuous interest and effort of the citizens to restore the marine environment.

The records are divided into sections including response of the accident, control activities, volunteer activities, ship compensation, recovery activities, environmental and social restoration, international cooperation, and marine life specimens.

The type of records include photographs, paper documents, videos, oral records, electronic documents, samples from birds, fish and many more.

The province believes that the document will be meaningful as a source of information on preventing and overcoming damages in areas with a risk of oil spills for all around the world.

The result of the disaster is said to be especially beautiful because this success of overcoming the disaster shows the combination of human efforts, which is considered to be different from other records of overcoming disasters.

The province, the Cultural Heritage Administration, and UNESCO Korea plans to apply for the Asia-Pacific region list this June.

The decision of the registration will be decided through the review of applications in the second half of the year and in the Memory of the World Committee for Asia and the Pacific at the end of the year.

"The fact that these documents records the process of overcoming the oil damage together with the government, local governments, public institutions, non-governmental organizations, and volunteers with one mind and one heart is a good enough reason to be registered as a World Heritage." An official from the province said. "After it has been included in the regional list, we will also try for the Memory of the world."

In South Korea, three items are listed on the Asia Pacific Region list including Korea's Pyunak and Ten-thousand Persons' Memorial to Honor Crown Prince Sado as a King.

16 items are listed on the Memory of the World including the Veritable Records of the Joseon Dynasty, Hunminjeongeum, Saemaul Undong (New Village Movement) and the Archives of the National Debt Redemption Movement.

(This article is translated from Korean to English by Haemin Kim.)

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