Six month inter-Korean excavation project announced

The two Koreas will work together on a six-month project excavating Manwoldae Palace on the North Korean side of the border, South Korea’s Ministry of Unification said Sunday.

Manwoldae Palace was the official royal residence during 
the Koryo dynasty [Credit: UNESCO]

The site, located in the North Korean border village, is the central palace from the Koryo Dynasty (919-1392) that precedes Joseon. As part of the plan, more than 10 members of a historians’ association were to travel to the site Monday, to be followed by about six-dozen more over the next six months.

The Manwoldae excavation project has been taking place off and on since 2007. The project is one believed to be of great interest to late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, current leader Kim Jong Un’s father.

Last July the South Korean Office of the Association of Inter-Korean Historians sent an advance team of 13 historians to Kaesong as part of the project and budgeted 276 million won ($268,000) toward the excavation.

NK News director of intelligence John Grisafi said it was unclear, based on the information provided by the ministry, whether this was a continuation of last summer’s announcement or a new phase. Still, he said it was an important project for a pair of reasons.

“One is that projects related to Korean history give the two Koreas something on which they can cooperate and in which they have shared heritage and interests, even when cooperation may not come as easily elsewhere,” he said. “The second is that it especially important to preserve and study these archeological sites in the North given the stories that many of them have been robbed for profit due to the North’s economic situation.”

Source: NK News [June 01, 2015]