Yangju City Achieves Milestone as Hoeamsaji and Byeolsandae Nori Selected for MCST "2nd Local 100"

Yangju City in Gyeonggi Province announced on the 3rd that two sites, Hoeamsaji in Yangju and Yangju Byeolsandae Nori, have been selected for the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (hereinafter the MCST)'s "2nd Local 100" initiative.

View of Yangju Hoeamsaji. Provided by Yangju City.

"Local 100" is a project in which the MCST selects 100 distinctive cultural spaces and cultural contents based on local culture and promotes them nationwide to expand opportunities for cultural enjoyment and increase the local resident population. Following the 1st phase (2023-2024), the project is now entering its 2nd phase (2026-2027).

For this 2nd phase, online public voting and expert reviews were conducted on 200 candidates that passed the MCST's first-round screening, out of about 1,000 local cultural spaces and cultural contents recommended by local governments nationwide and the public. Among them, Hoeamsaji in Yangju was selected in the local cultural space category, and Yangju Byeolsandae Nori was selected in the local cultural contents category.

Hoeamsaji in Yangju is the site of the largest royal Buddhist temple from the late Goryeo to early Joseon period. In recognition of its value, it was placed on the tentative list in 2025 for inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List, and it is also the venue for Yangju City's representative annual festival, the "Yangju Hoeamsaji Royal Culture Festival."

Yangju Byeolsandae Nori is a mask dance of the sandaenori tradition that has been handed down in the Yangju area and is one of the city's representative intangible cultural heritages. It was designated Important Intangible Cultural Property No. 2 (now a National Intangible Heritage) in 1964 and was inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2022. Recently, following a review by the National Heritage Administration, three additional transmission instructors were designated, bringing the total to ten, who are leading a wide range of activities for transmission and dissemination.

Yangju Byeolsandae nori. Provided by Yangju City

With this selection, Hoeamsaji in Yangju and Yangju Byeolsandae Nori will be intensively promoted at home and abroad over the next two years (2026-2027) through various channels such as the MCST's press releases, official website, and social media (SNS). Through this, the excellent value of Yangju City's local cultural resources is expected to become more widely known.

Hong Mi-young, head of the Culture and Tourism Division, said, "Yangju is a region that possesses the historical value of both tangible and intangible traditional cultural assets in Korea," adding, "We will continue our efforts to grow into a beautiful historical and cultural city that represents our country."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.