National Sports Museum's 'Table Tennis Inter-Korean Unified Team Artifacts' Selected as Preliminary Cultural Heritage by the National Heritage Service

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The "Collection of artifacts related to the 1991 Inter-Korean unified team at the 41st World Table Tennis Championships in Chiba" held by the National Sports Museum (National Sports Park) under the Korea Sports Promotion Foundation has been finally selected as a "Preliminary Cultural Heritage" by the National Heritage Service.

"Preliminary Cultural Heritage" is a system introduced to select artifacts with high preservation value as future "Registered Cultural Heritage" among modern and contemporary cultural heritages that have not yet reached 50 years since their construction, production, or formation, in order to prevent damage or loss and to lay the foundation for future cultural resources in local communities.

The "Preliminary Cultural Heritage" selected this time consists of a total of five items across four categories: one table tennis paddle with an autograph by athlete Yu Sun-bok, one table tennis paddle with autographs from the Inter-Korean unified team, one gold medal from the women's team event, and two table tennis paddles used by athlete Hong Cha-ok.

The table tennis paddle with an autograph by athlete Yu Sun-bok, who participated as a North Korean player at the time, is considered an even more meaningful artifact because it contains a message left for South Korean athlete Hong Cha-ok.

A table tennis paddle bearing the signatures of 17 Inter-Korean unified team players and operational officials, along with actual match equipment and the women's team event gold medal, has also been preserved, allowing one to examine everything from the formation of the unified team to its competitive achievements. These artifacts were donated to the museum in April by athlete Hong Cha-ok and Han Young-geun.

Ha Hyeong-ju, Chairman of the Korea Sports Promotion Foundation, said, "The efforts and friendship of North and South Korean athletes who united through the sport of table tennis have finally come to light as heritage recognized by the state after 35 years."

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*This content was translated by AI.View Original