Anchor: For centuries, women have been diving off the coast of South Korea’s Jeju island to make a living. Incredibly, they scour the ocean floor in one breath to bring seafood to the surface for sale. Now, their proud culture has been preserved forever by the United Nations.
Bruce Harrison reports.   
 
Report: South Korea’s culture of women divers, or haenyeo, has been added to the coveted UN list of world intangible cultural heritage.
 
The Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage under the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization(UNESCO) held the 11th session in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa on Wednesday and confirmed the inscription of “Culture of Jeju Haenyeo” on the List of the of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Jeju Governor Won Hee-ryong quickly praised the haenyeo for the UN designation.

[Sound bite: Jeju Governor Won Hee-ryong (Korean)]
"I would like to thank and give this honor to haenyeos for enduring hard times so far now that it is registered as an international cultural heritage." 
 
The Intergovernmental Committee said the haenyeo culture deserves international recognition, noting that the free diving activity embraces cultural variety and traditional rituals of the region and passes down technical know-how across generations.
 
The haenyeo culture is also highly regarded as nature-friendly fishing, which doesn’t pose significant harm to the ocean environment. Hanguk University of Foreign Studies Prof. Park Sang-mi said haenyeo provide a model of sustainability.

[Sound bite: Prof. Park Sang-mi - Hanguk University of Foreign Studies / advisory committee to the Cultural Heritage Administration of Korea (Korean)]
"This is a recognition by the UNESCO that it is a representative intangible cultural heritage of cultural creativity and diversity of the humanity. The Jeju haenyeo culture provides directions for the sustainable future for humanity."

[Sound bite: Jeju divers singing ahead of a dive]

One aspect of the Jeju haenyeo culture is song. The divers sing on boats as they head out to sea. The culture also consists of muljil, or diving techniques involving no breathing apparatus; and jamsugut, a pre-diving shamanic ritual seeking safety.
 
Japan was known to be pushing for the inscription of a similar female diver’s culture, called Ama, but it was not reviewed by the Intergovernmental Committee this time.
 
With "haenyeo,” South Korea now has 19 cultural assets on UNESCO’s list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
 
Other South Korean assets on the list include the royal ancestral rituals and music of Jongmyo Shrine, the traditional form of musical storytelling known as "pansori” and farmers’ traditional music “nong-ak.”
 
Meanwhile, Korea’s traditional wrestling, ssirum, which was submitted by North Korea, failed to make to the list this time due to insufficient submission of related information.
Bruce Harrison, KBS World Radio News.