The cultural value and importance of "Arirang" has been acknowledged by the world as it joins the list of UNESCO intangible heritage of humanity. On December 5 (local time), the 7th UNESCO Intangible Heritage Committee gathered in Paris, France and decided to add Arirang, which the South Korean government had nominated, to its list of intangible heritage of humanity.

Now, South Korea has 15 items on UNESCO's list of intangible heritage including pansori and Gangneung Dano Festival since the Jongmyo rites and music were first listed in 2001. Arirang is a folk song, which was created collectively by the Korean people over several generations. It refers to a group of songs which include a chorus and lyrics including the words "arirang, arirang, arariyo."

At the meeting, UNESCO assessed, "Respecting human creativity and the freedom of expression is the great virtue of Arirang. Arirang played an important role in enhancing cultural diversity and in forming the identity of the Korean people and binding the community as it was continuously recreated in a diverse social context."

In August 2009, the South Korean government nominated the Jeongseon Arirang along with classic Korean songs, holiday markets, and hawking in its list of intangible heritage, but due to a restriction on the number of nominations a country can make in a year, Jeongseon Arirang was excluded from the review.

Last year in August, South Korea's Association of North and South Korean Historians suggested co-nominating Arirang to North Korea's Academy of Social Sciences, but when they failed to make any progress due to the chilling inter-Korean relations, the South Korean government, in June, nominated Jeongseon Arirang as an Arirang of the people, enlarging the scope of the community.

The Cultural Heritage Administration of Korea said, "Now that Arirang has been accepted into UNESCO's list, we will design and execute measures to revitalize the teaching of each region's Arirang. In the first half of next year, we will enact a Law on the Preservation and Promotion of Intangible Cultural Assets and work to designate Arirang as a national intangible cultural asset."

When the Law on the Preservation and Promotion of Intangible Cultural Assets is enforced, all our important intangible cultural assets will be called national intangible cultural assets. Under the current important intangible cultural assets system, when designating an item, a person or a group possessing the skills and arts must be designated as well.

Thus cultural assets enjoyed by the unspecified masses like Arirang were not able to be designated as important cultural assets. At present, only "Jeongseon Arirang" is listed as an intangible cultural heritage of Gangwondo (No. 1).

Last year in May, China listed the Arirang of ethnic Koreans in China as a state-level intangible asset of China, but have yet to submit a nomination to UNESCO. The Cultural Heritage Administration said, "According to the convention, there's no way to stop the Chinese government from submitting the nomination as long as they satisfy the technical conditions.

If China shows any intention to make such a move, we will respond through bilateral talks with China or through diplomatic actions through UNESCO." The administration submitted a nomination for kimchi and the kimchi-making culture in March, and said a decision by UNESCO is expected in November next year.