조선 마지막 장인을 되살려낸 언론인 예용해

Abstract

The year 2025 marks the 30th anniversary of the passing of journalist and folklorist Ye Yong-hae (1929–1995), whose contributions to the preservation of Korea’s traditional culture remain profound. Born in Cheongdo, Gyeongsangbuk-do, Ye Yong-hae began his journalism career in 1950 as a reporter for the Daegu Ilbo while a sophomore majoring in Korean literature at Kyungpook National University. During the Korean War, he served as a war correspondent and, was scouted by the Hankook Ilbo shortly after its founding in 1954. He served as a social affairs reporter, head of the culture department, and editorial writer for the Hankook Ilbo until 1990. Ye Yong-hae’s most celebrated work was the serialized feature “Human Cultural Assets”(Ingan Munhwajae in Korean), which he ran from July 10, 1960, to November 30, 1962, for 50 installments, followed by a sequel series of 12 additional articles between 1964 and 1970. The term “Human Cultural Assets” is familiar today, but it was not in use until Ye Yong-hae chose it as the title of his serialized articles. He broke the fixed notion that cultural properties referred only to objects and presented a new perspective that people themselves could also be cultural assets. This idea played a significant role in raising public awareness of the value of intangible cultural heritage. He traveled the country to discover artisans possessing traditional skills, and the serial articles documenting these achievements garnered enthusiastic responses from readers. This movement paved the way for the government's establishment of the Intangible Cultural Heritage System, and the term “Human Cultural Assets” later became an official legal term. The artisans featured in Ye Yong-hae's “Human Cultural Assets” series were mostly born between the 1870s and 1920s, possessing skills from the late Joseon Dynasty, including court dance, traditional songs, mask dance, shamanistic ritual performances, knot-weaving, and hat-making. Amidst the turbulent social changes and industrialization of the 1960s, their lives were destined to disappear without record. He went beyond simply identifying and introducing these individuals through articles. He meticulously documented their craftsmanship and candidly portrayed the inner lives of these artisans. Of the 62 individuals he covered, 47 were later designated as National Human Cultural Assets (holders of national intangible cultural heritage skills) at the national, provincial, and municipal levels. Ye Yong-hae served as a member of the Cultural Heritage Committee (1965–1995) for 30 years at the Cultural Heritage Administration (now the Korea Heritage Service). He maintained close relationships with many people while working as a war correspondent, editorial writer, and cultural heritage committee member. This played a crucial role in leading Ha Gap-cheong, Director of the Cultural Heritage Administration, to establish the Folk Museum, the predecessor of the National Folk Museum of Korea. From 1986 until just before his death in 1995, Ye Yong-hae devoted himself to the project of investigating Korean cultural properties located overseas. He proposed the project to the Korea International Culture Association (now the Korea Foundation) and received its support. Together with You Hong-june (current Director of the National Museum of Korea), Chung Yang-mo (former Director of the National Museum of Korea), and Kim Kwang-eon (former professor at Inha University), he examined Korean cultural properties held in 111 museums and related institutions in 14 countries, including the United States, Japan, and several in Europe. This was the first research project in Korea to investigate cultural heritage that had flowed out of the country. The results of this investigation were published over ten years beginning in 1989 as an eight-volume series titled Overseas Korean Cultural Properties Catalogues. Ye Yong-hae, who was also an antique collector, donated 257 gourd dippers from the Silla and Joseon Dynasties to the Korea University Museum in 1977. In 1994 and 1995, he donated 290 folk artifacts, including hats, braziers, and inkstones, to the National Folk Museum of Korea. In 2017, his family donated 2,668 craft artifacts, including some 2,400 books, to the Seoul Museum of Craft Art. These donated materials can be viewed in the archive room of the Seoul Museum of Craft Art. After his death, his acquaintances gathered and published the six-volume Complete Works of Yae Yong-hae in 1997.