Current Status and Prospect of Virtual Reality Contents in Korean Ancient History

Hee-Soo, Choi Department of History Content, Sangmyung University, Seoul, Republic of

Abstract. The purpose of this article is to analyze the current state of virtual reality content in Korea and to look into future prospects. A number of virtual reality contents have been produced and contributed to some of the public's interest in historical culture. However, there are some limitations in improving the historical imagination pursued in history. In order to overcome this problem, it is necessary to create and utilize experience contents using the metaverse concept.

1. Introduction Virtual reality (VR) means a specific environment or situation, or technology itself, that is similar to the reality created by artificial technology using computers, but is not actual. At this time, the created virtual (imagined) environment or situation stimulates the user's five senses and makes the user experience a spatial and temporal experience similar to reality, thereby freely bringing the boundary between reality and imagination. Users can not only simply immerse themselves in virtual reality, but they can also interact with things implemented in virtual reality, such as manipulating or commanding them using real devices. In addition, virtual reality is distinguished from a one-sided simulation in that it can interact with users and create user experience. Virtual reality contents are contents created by utilizing this virtual reality technology. This content enhances the understanding of the object by letting people’s experience elements that are not experienced in the real world. Especially, since it can inform the past history and culture that can not be experienced by modern people through virtual reality, it is widely used in historical contents. In the field of Korean ancient history, these virtual reality contents are actively utilized. The aim of history is human understanding through cultivating the historical thinking ability of the masses. This historical thinking power includes chronological grasp, historical exploration, historical imagination, and historical judgment abilities. These four are combined together to form historical thinking. Virtual reality contents contribute to the enhancement of historical imagination among them. The purpose of this presentation is to review and analyze the current state of virtual reality contents related to ancient Korean history, and to view the direction of contents in the future.

2. Status of Virtual Reality Contents in Korean Ancient History The current situation of virtual reality contents related to ancient Korean history produced so far is summarized as follows. Table 1. Status of Virtual Reality Contents in Korean Ancient History

Nation Contents Production time Purpose Seorabul capital 3D 2000 Expo Exhibition Hwangnyongsa Digital 2006 Gyeongju Expo Exhibition Restoration

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Digital restoration of 2008 Culture prototype HMD Travel 2015 Gyeongju Expo Exhibition Baekje Baekje Thurible 3D 2006 Baekje Festival Exhibition Digital Restoration of Culture prototype Munnangwang Tomb 2006 Sabi Capital 3D 2010 Baekje Festival Exhibition Iksan Mireuksajji Digital Heritage 2015 Mireuksaji Exhibition Hall Goguryo Deokheungri Tomb 2010 Web Service Anak No.3 Tomb 2012 Web Service & Exhibition Gangseo Daemyo Tomb 2013 Web Service Susanri Tomb 2014 Web Service Restoration of Pyongyang Capital 2014 Web Service

Looking at the purpose of Korean ancient history virtual reality contents produced so far, first of all, it can be understood that it was the restoration of cultural heritage which was damaged and lost. It was aimed to find the perfect form of the cultural heritage that is not present, or only part of which remains. In addition, there is interest in preservation as well as restoration. If restoration and preservation were the primary purpose, there was the purpose of informing the contents of heritages to the public by inserting relevant information. It is a one-sided form of information, but it is positive that it has combined various information related to cultural heritage into content. In recent years, interaction technology has been used to indirectly experience of past history in virtual reality content.

3. Examples of VR Contents in Korean Ancient History Here are some typical examples: Restoration and Preservation type virtual reality - Seokguram, King Muryong Tomb, Hwangnyongsa Temple, Jungrimsa Temple, Mireuksa Temple Information-providing type virtual reality - Seokguram, Baekje Thurible, Tomb Murals. Mireuksa Temple Experience type virtual reality - Battle of Kongssangseong Castle, Seokguram HMD, Hwangnyongsa Temple, Jeongrimsa Temple The types are classified as above, but the actual contents are often combined with each other. However, it is classified according to where its main purpose is.

3.1. Restoration and Preservation Type Digital restoration purposes is created to digitally restore cultural heritage and present it in its original appearance. One of the most prominent examples is the virtual reality version of the Seokguram Grotto in Gyeongju, . Seokguram is a cultural heritage of the ancient Shilla Kingdom of Korea. It is located in Gyeongju, which was the capital of the Shilla Kingdom for a thousand years. In 751, the noble Kim Dae-sung started to make it and it was completed 20 years later. It was listed in the UNESCO World Heritage Site with Bulguksa Temple located nearby in 1995. Seokguram is carved with the statues such as the figure of Buddha, Bodhisattva and the guardian of Buddha. The dome of the ceiling and the internal structure are known to have been influenced by the art style of Gandhara in and there is also a claim that it is the Hellenistic culture. Seokguram has been damaged for a long time, and the restoration work by the Japanese during the Japanese colonial period has resulted in the ruin of the structure of Seokguam. Presently, the preservation of Seokguram is an important issue of Korean cultural assets. Currently, inside of Seokguram is closed to public viewing, and it is forced to visit inside through glass protection window. For this reason, it was necessary to develop contents to properly view Seokguram. Seokguram is an important heritage that shows the development of culture in the middle of the Silla period (early 7-9th century). Therefore, it is very important to record the prototype with digital data, and

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we conducted 3D scanning for this purpose. Stereoscopic image of Seokguram is the result of 3D visualization. In this image, the structure of Seokguram, arrangement of each pieces, detailed view, and viewpoints from various angles are provided to help understanding Seokguram. In addition, the process of building the stone rock is shown in 3D images. It is Seokguram HMD that developed this more. By adding information about the Seokguram structure to the existing stereoscopic image, the viewer can understand the contents of each part through the HMD and treadmill. However, this content does not allow us to experience the scientific composition of Seokguram, the detailed construction process, and above all the images of the faith of the Silla people.

Figure 1. Seokguram Grotto in virtual reality. The virtual reality representation of the in , South Korea, is also the product of a digital restoration project. The tomb belongs to King Muryeong of Baekje, one of the kingdoms in ancient Korea, and has cultural significance because it is the only Baekje tomb with the buried person publicly known. Since it also suffered preservation problems, the original tomb is currently not open to the public but the restored tomb in its original appearance is on display. The VR restoration of the Tomb of King Muryeong consists of a bird’s-eye view using a drone and a 360-degree VR interior view.

Figure 2. The Tomb of King Muryeong in virtual reality.

3.2. Information-providing type virtual reality Oobservation and information purposes provides visitors with a wide range of information, which is added to digitally-restored heritage. The most prominent example would be the virtual reality representation of the Tomb Murals of Goguryeo. Goguryeo tomb murals are distributed in the northeast of , where was the area of early Goguryeo, and , where was the center of Goguryeo. These were built over the 3-7 century, and over 120 have been surveyed up to now. It depicts various aspects of Goguryeo such as politics, society, economy, culture, and thoughts. It was recognized as an important heritage in history and was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004. However, these tombs are difficult to access. The tomb murals in China are due to China's historical controversy (so- called northeast project) and the tomb murals in North Korea are due to inter-Korean relations. The Goguryo tomb murals are important historical heritages because it has abundant life-related materials such as the faith of the Goguryeo people and the life style of the nobility. There is a wealth of paintings on the heroine of the tomb and the customs of the Goguryo people such as the gods, hunting, dance, parade, work report. It is more valuable because it is hard to find in the ancient tombs of Silla and Baekje, the ancient Korean states. Therefore, it is necessary to observe it in detail. That is why Korean historical organizations are creating virtual reality contents of murals in Goguryeo tombs.

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Goguryeo tomb murals virtual reality contents were targeted to the most famous Anak No.3 tomb murals. Anak No.3 tomb is a Goguryeo tomb located in Anak County, , and was listed as a World Heritage Site in 2003. The production year is estimated to be 357. The mural is made up of the space where the portrait of the grave owner is built, the kitchen, the stall, the garage where the servants are working, and the front space with the guards. HMD and Walking VR were used to move around in the tomb, and the hand controller was used to survey information through interaction with objects inside the tomb wall. As can be seen from the composition of the murals, the grave is the house of the dead. Rather than being an object of observation, it is necessary to explain how the tomb is constructed for the dead, and what each component means. It is to understand the intention of the people who made the mural tombs and the way of life at that time. In this regard, this virtual reality content has an unsatisfactory point.

Figure 3. Virtual reality representation of the Tomb Murals of Goguryeo.

The VR representation of the Mireuksa Temple Site in Iksan. Currently, only the West Pagoda (Seotap) remains intact and the rest of the buildings no longer exist except the site. It was among the candidates for the capital of Baekje, an ancient Korean kingdom, and is important heritage from ancient Korea along with the royal palace site. Similar to digitally-restored heritage, the entire Mireuksa Temple Site was first digitally restored, and then a drone-based bird’s-eye view and a 360-degree VR panorama were added, along with a video showing the installation of the Buddhist monument held at the temple and the pagoda construction process. This content provides important information about the Mireuksa Temple Site.

Figure 4. Virtual reality representation of the Mireuksa Temple Site.

Silla, one of the ancient Korean kingdoms that first unified the country, left behind many cultural heritage resources. The Hwangryongsa Temple is the greatest cultural heritage of Silla that no longer exists physically but in writing. Currently, there only exists the temple site in Gyeongju, South Korea. The size of the site alone suggests the colossal size of the temple. For instance, the records show that the pagoda of the Hwangryongsa Temple had a total of nine stories amounting to 81 meters in height. The content allows visitors to view the wood padoga of the Hwangryongsa Temple, the Geumdang Mural painted on the walls of the temple, and the sight of the Royal Capital, offering glimpses of the Silla people and their Buddhist faith.

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Figure 5. Virtual reality representation of the Hwangryongsa Temple.

3.3. Experience type virtual reality Virtual experiences are the most advanced type of digital heritage so far. They consist of interactive elements and a variety of digital devices that help experience virtual reality. The most prominent example is the VR experiences of the Jeongnimsa Temple Site. Jeongrimsa temple in the Buyeo city, south of Korea is the temple of the Baekje period. Buyeo was the capital of Baekje since the mid 6th century. In this place, a Central Gate, a stone pagoda, a temple hall and an auditorium were built on a straight line. Especially, a 5 stories stone pagoda is a precious cultural heritage showing the typical characteristics of Baekje pagoda. This significance has been acknowledged and registered with UNESCO World Heritage sites in 2015 along with other Baekje ruins. There are three major values of Jeongrimsa as cultural heritage. The first is that Jungrim temple is a temple built in Baekje 's central district. It suggests that this temple was the most important temple in the Sabi(Buyo) era. The second is that the 5th-story stone pagoda shows the typical pagoda style of Baekje. There are two stone pagodas of Baekje, Mireuksaji stone pagoda and Jungrimsa temple pagoda.. Mireuksaji's stone pagoda is the stone pagoda imitating the style of wooden pagoda, and Jungrimsa Temple stone pagoda became a model of the typical Baekje Stone Pagoda. he third is the inscription of the Tang Dynasty army carved on the first floor of the pagoda. During the fall of Baekje, the Tang Dynasty army came to mark the annihilation of Baekje. This is a historical record related to the end of Baekje.

Figure 6. Virtual experiences of the the Jeongnimsaji Temple Site.

However, since there are only two real objects of the stone pagoda and the stone statue, attempts have been made to restore it, and as a result, virtual reality contents have been created. In addition, it is noteworthy that Jungrimsa virtual reality has introduced the form of Tapdori(circling the pagoda) as an experiential element. Tapdori is an act to make a wish in Buddhism. It is a way to make a wish while turning around a pagoda, it was also a solution to the wishes of a traditional society. Jungrimsa pagoda is an important pagoda as mentioned above. It is positive that provide the indirectly experiences about the Buddhist beliefs of the Baekje people at that time while circling this pagoda. The Gongsanseong Fortress in Gongju, South Korea. The Gongsanseong Fortress is known as the castle built to defend the capital of Baekje. Located in Gongju (formerly, Ungjin), the then capital of Baekje, it is important cultural heritage that once protected the kingdom’s royal palace. No records exist of this

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cultural heritage, but the VR content was created based on an imaginary battle, in which the Baekje army fought their enemy from the Gongsanseong Fortress. The primary experience is an archery battle.

Figure 7. Virtual experiences of the Gongsanseong Fortress.

4. Limitations of Virtual Reality Contents in Korean Ancient History Korean ancient history Virtual reality contents contribute to bringing history and culture closer to the public. In the case of Seokguram HMD and Hwangnyongsa Temple virtual reality, it is contributing to informing people visiting Gyeongju through the permanent exhibition of the culture of Silla. In addition, other virtual reality contents are temporary, but contribute a little to informing the history of Goguryeo and Baekje. Nevertheless, there are still some limitations. First, it concentrates primarily on the implementation of technology, and the content is regarded as secondary. Only recently, interest in content has been expressed. Until now, interest in virtual reality contents in Korea has been primarily interested in digital technology to realize virtual reality. For example, creators have focused on 3D graphics; 3D displays (HMD, Glass, Curved TV, etc.); Interactions (Joystick, Vive, ThreadMill, Kinetic, etc). For this reason, interest in contents to be composed as a virtual reality has been pushed to the secondary interest. The second is that it does not show the core value of the cultural heritage that is the object of contents. Most of them are still simple information and experiences. Content that targets a cultural heritage or a relic can not escape from the framework of providing information. As such, it has certain limitations in showing comprehensive, stereoscopic thinking surrounding the cultural heritage. For example, Seokguram HMD Travel shows the construction of Seokguram, the carving of Seokguram, and the view from various angles. However, the Buddhist belief system that Seokguram possessed and the awe of the Buddha that the Silla people felt were excluded from the experience. The Goguryo tomb murals series also reproduces the tomb murals themselves and reproduces them digitally, allowing us to appreciate murals that we can not see directly, and to restore the original colors of faded murals for a long period of time to show us clear images. However, there are no special elements to experience the content of the wishes of the Goguryo people buried in the main character of the grave, and why each picture was drawn. The other virtual reality experience elements do not match historical facts or are composed of simple experience elements, so it is necessary to complement them. In order to overcome this problem, contents that incorporate the concept of metaverse should be conceived. A metaverse is a combination of meta and universe, and is a concept that refers to the universe and the universe of another dimension, that is, the space of reality and the space of another virtual space. Basically, it adds realities to 3D virtual space and actively expands the scope of human experience. In other words, Metaverse is a concept that makes it possible to recognize not only the information of the heritage, but also the life in the world through various mixed experiences in consciousness and unconsciousness. The four key elements of Metaverse are: augmented reality, second, life logging, third, mirror world, fourth, virtual world. The virtual world is a simulation environment with intrinsic characteristics, and the mirror world is an informationally extended virtual world, which means reflection of the real world. Augmented reality is an expansion of the real world, and lifelogging means storing and describing information and experience of things and people.

5. Tasks and Prospects of Virtual Reality Contents in Korean Ancient History

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It is expected that the virtual reality contents of Korean ancient history will evolve into a form of experience of the society that appears in Korean ancient history. It will be a direction to become a part of the society and to experience it directly, rather than just providing information or observer's perspective. To do this, we must make full use of the human experience extension technology provided by digital technology. Virtual reality or augmented reality aims to expand the human experience area. Therefore, it is necessary to try to combine history with the aspect of expansion of experience factor. In other words, the content should be expanded not only to one legacy and one heritage but also to the field of history, experiences of past society and events. What is needed for this is the metaverse concept. This is because it can greatly help to enhance historical exploration and historical imagination. The following is an example of the virtual reality content of Korean ancient history to be developed in the future. First, we can experience the characteristics of the estate society and grasp its historical meaning through the implementation of the virtual world of specific space society in the past era. This is possible by creating an avatar for each status and constructing behavioral characteristics of each status. We can feel the emotions of the past people through the digital experience of spaces and artifacts that are not currently available by augmented reality. Through the construction of the mirror world, it is possible to compare the present and the past, or to experience a comparative history of how the same characters lived in different societies. Through life logging, you will be able to understand various ways of life such as use of objects and main users. The metaverse type and history knowledge contents are as follows. Table 2. Metaverse type and Contents of history knowledge

type history knowledge Experience Example Experience Elements Restoration of specific Reconstruction of character Experiencing role by status, virtual world living environment and activities and landscape of understanding of composition of character insertion Gyeongju in the Silla Dynasty the capital and functions by area Reflecting the multi-layered Construction of changing Experience of space composition mirror world world view reflecting the landscape of Gyeongju, the and changes in cities changing times capital of Silla Digital restoration of Overlap of Hwangryongsa Visible experience with elements augmented specific places and use of Temple Site and Digital that can not be identified at this reality things Restoration time Understand the functions and Experience of person's daily Daily routines of Hwarangdo roles of the organizations and lifelogging work and use of object or National students institutions through the daily experience of specific character

The four types of metaverse elements can be applied in conjunction with each other according to the content of historical knowledge. For example, if we construct a content using the metaverse as follows, we will be able to approach the transfer of historical knowledge efficiently by experiencing the splendor of the capital city, the prosperity of Buddhism, and life style of estate. First, construct a digital map for a specific space, such as Gyeongju, which is the capital of Silla. Second, create characters of various social status on the map. Third, create a scene of building and visiting the Hwangnyong Temple. Current virtual reality contents have certain limitations in developing historical imagination and thinking ability. The contents related to ancient history which have been developed from contents using ICT technology such as virtual reality and augmented reality started from contents using past media are expected to be developed by adding metaverse elements capable of richer historical experience. It is anticipated that the public will be able to develop historical imagination ability through a broader historical experience, rather than simply being aware of historical facts.

6. References [1] Lee H C, Kim B S, Kang I C, Kim E S, Hur K T 2012 Next Generation Realistic Media Technology Trends and Prospects OSIA Standards & Technology Review Journal 25-4(Seoul; OSIA) pp 35-37.

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[2] Hui-Jeong , Hyo-Jung Oh, Tae-Young Kim, Yong Kim 2016 A Study on the Construction and Utilization of Digital Archives for Intangible Cultural Heritage in Korea Journal of the Korean Biblia Society for Library and Information Science 27-2(Seoul; The Korean Biblia Society For Library And Information Science) pp 96-97. [3] Lee H C, Kim E S, Hur K T 2013 Status of Technology Development in Realistic Media Industry and Activation Plan OSIA Standards & Technology Review Journal 26-4(Seoul; OSIA) pp 25-26. [4] Sang Min Shim 2016 Study on Types of Cultural Heritage Resources Marketing and Industrialization Strategy Journal of the Cultural Economics 19-2(Seoul; Korea Association for Cultural Economics) pp 66-68. [5] Jin-ho Park, Sang-heon Kim 2017 Building Archive and Developing Virtual Reality Content in Myanmar Bagan Lawkahteikpan Temple The Summer Conference of Academic Association of Global Cultural Content (Seoul; AAGCC) pp 112-113. [6] Hee-Soo Choi 2017 Experiential Content and the Korea Ancient History - Focusing on enhancing the historical imagination - The Journal of Korean Ancient History 84 (Seoul; Society for Korean Ancient History) pp 191-222.

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