As the KBS drama production team damaged part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Byeongsan Seowon, Professor Seo Kyung-deok of Sungshin Women‘s University criticized them.

Architect Min Seo-hong wrote on her Facebook page on the 2nd, “I am recording my experience of witnessing Byeongsan Seowon,” describing the scene of cultural heritage damage she saw when she visited Byeongsan Seowon on December 30th of last year. The photo she shared with the article shows nails driven into the top of the pillars of Mandeoru for use as drama props.

Professor Seo Kyung-deok also mentioned this on her Instagram on the 3rd, explaining, “In recent years, ‘damage to cultural heritage’ has been a serious issue in Korea. There have been continuous instances of absurd incidents, such as the damage to the burial mound of Seolleung, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, in August of last year, and the graffiti terrorist incident on the walls of Gyeongbokgung Palace two years ago.”

Professor Seo asserted, “It’s no longer enough to just end with punishment, but we need to improve the ‘civic awareness’ regarding the importance of cultural assets,” and added, “To do that, we need to strengthen education related to cultural assets starting from elementary school.”

He continued, “As K-content has spread worldwide, many overseas tourists are flocking to experience Korean culture and history. In this situation, we ourselves must first do our best to cherish and preserve our cultural assets.”

Not only Andong City, but also the National Heritage Administration has begun to assess the situation due to the cultural assets’ damage, and KBS bowed its head, saying, “We are discussing restoration efforts.”

The controversial drama ‘I Took the Male Lead’s First Night’ (written by Jeon Seon-yeong/directed by Lee Woong-hee) is a romantic fantasy about a minor character (played by Seo Hyun) who has the soul of an ordinary female college student and spends a night with the novel‘s most obsessed male lead (played by Ok Taecyeon).



[The following is the full text of Professor Seo Kyung-deok’s article]

The KBS drama production team has caused a huge controversy by driving nails into the pillars of a building at Byeongsan Seowon, a UNESCO World Heritage site, in order to install props. An architect who visited the site raised the issue, and many netizens reported it to us.

It has been revealed that the production team of the new KBS drama ‘I Took the Male Lead‘s First Night’ recently drove nails all over Byeongsan Seowon in Andong in order to film the drama. KBS has officially apologized for this and said that they are discussing the best way to restore it.

In recent years, ‘damage to cultural properties’ has been a serious issue in Korea. There have been continuous occurrences of absurd incidents, such as the incident of damaging the burial mound of Seolleung, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, in August last year, and the incident of graffiti terrorism on the walls of Gyeongbokgung Palace two years ago.

Now, we should not end with simple punishment, but improve ‘civic awareness’ about the importance of cultural properties. In order to do so, we should strengthen education related to cultural properties starting from elementary school.

As K-content spreads around the world, many foreign tourists are flocking to experience Korean culture and history. In this situation, we ourselves should first do our best to cherish and preserve our cultural properties.

Jeon Hyo-jin, Donga.com reporter jhj@donga.com