Korean Shamanism Marginalized In-Between Two Koreas

The two representative kuts of Korean Shamanism, which are inscribed as National Cultural Heritage, are from Hwanghae-do (a province in North Korea) and Seoul (capital of South Korea). Meanwhile, the shamanic rituals located in-between these two regions are marginalized. They are not researched as well and not listed as cultural heritage. Rather, they are depreciated because their forms are a kind of hybrid of the two recognized heritages. Nonetheless, there are shamans who perform and inherit the ‘Gaeseong kut’ in Seoul. Gaeseong is a city now located in North Korea and is one of the border areas between the two Koreas. In this project, I have three main research questions: first, what is Shamanism in the Gaeseong area? Second, is this locality continued in South Korea? Third, what is the practice of ‘Gaeseong’ kut in Seoul and what makes it have the locality beyond the DMZ?