President Kim Il Sung said.
“Historical remains and relics are national treasures; they are the heritage which must be handed down through the generations. A nation’s history of independence and creation is handed down through its remains and relics.”
Kumsokmun is one of the national cultural heritages which are associated with wisdom and talents of the Korean people who are proud of time-honoured history and brilliant culture.
Kumsokmun is characters engraved on metal or stone. Characters engraved on copper or iron, gold or silver are called Kummun and those on natural rock and stone pillar are called Sokmun. In general, Kumsokmun imply the characters engraved on a piece of iron or stone but, in a broader sense of meaning, it means all characters written on every sort of material except paper. For example, characters engraved on tile, brick, ceramic and wall of tomb belong to Kumsokmun.
Significant events or historical facts to be handed down are usually described in Kumsokmun directly by the people in the relevant periods. Therefore, scientific accuracy of their contents is reliable.
Kumsokmun are engraved by prominent men of letters and calligraphers and they can be preserved and used for a long historic period. Kumsokmun left by the ancestors are diverse in kind and rich in content.
There are different kinds of Kumsokmun in Korea and they are distributed widely in Pyongyang, Kaesong and every part of Korea.
In the DPRK Kumsokmun of different periods reflect profoundly and variously such socio-historical facts as social systems in relevant periods, political and cultural life and the ways of life of the people. Among them there are new and profound data supplementing the contents which are not available or which are in short in documentary records, and thus they are of a weighty academic significance. In particular, Kumsokmun in the period of T
Stone monuments in the Middle Ages are peculiar in form and delicate in formative arts. It was typical in the Korean nation’s monument that monument body was put on a turtle-shaped support and an ornamental dragon sculpture was fixed on the top of the monument body. Stone monuments of such form were developed and prevailed in the first half of Koryo period. As they are excellent as a calligraphic heritage, handwritings of Kumsokmun vividly prove high cultural attainment and remarkable artistic talents of the Korean nation. Accordingly, Kumsokmun is significant as the data for scientific research and as the creations of formative arts.
Such many Kumsokmun as the Monument to King Kwanggaetho, stones carved when building the Walled City of Pyongyang, the name of Pyongyang Bell, the Monument to the Great Victory in Pukgwan and the Monument at Hyonhwa Temple are the precious objective reminders which show the time-honoured history, brilliant culture and excellent tradition of the nation.
