Protecting Ordinary Spaces

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In our next story, a project is under way to designate old hangouts for ordinary people as cultural assets. Here is more.

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This coffee shop has been a popular hangout for residents and local artists in the neighborhood for nearly 65 years. Customers automatically have flashbacks of old memories while drinking a cup of coffee and listening to their favorite music.

[Soundbite] Lee Chung-sang(77-year-old) : "We met at Samyang Dabang and tied the knot. So the name of Samyang Dabang reminds me of the old days."

A Chinese restaurant run by three generations of the same family and a group of bars selling Korean rice wine makgeolli are also stores frequented by ordinary people. A project will be launched to designate spaces and people keeping the traces of ordinary people's lives and the history of local neighborhoods as future heritage assets. They are not official cultural assets. However, the project aims to preserve heritage on the verge of demolition in the process of urban development.

[Soundbite] Kim Byung-soo(Traditional Culture Department, Jeonju City Hall) : "Voluntary participation of citizens is the most important, since the project will create treasures for the next century."

A deliberation committee in which residents participate will seek solutions to problems such as the question of fairness regarding the use of public budgets for protecting private properties.