Vienna's horses, Koreas' kimchi-making get UNESCO nod

The elegant horsemanship of the Spanish Riding School in Vienna and the time-honoured North Korean art of making spicy kimchi were on Wednesday added to the UN cultural agency's list of jewels that enrich the world's intangible cultural heritage.

UNESCO said the practices and rituals of the world-renowned school in the Austrian capital that breeds its own Lipizzaner stallions "reflect the relationships of long standing between breeders, grooms, craftspeople, riders and horses".

Elisabeth Guertler, the director of the 450-year-old school, said it showed the "harmonious interaction between humans and animals on a daily basis".

The ancient tradition of making kimchi -- the sometimes fiery pickled greens that feature in many a meal in North as well as South Korea -- was also among 15 new entries on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

The expert panel meeting in the Namibian capital Windhoek also chose to add the tugging rituals in the rice-farming cultures of East Asia and Southeast Asia to its prestigious list.

Marking the start of the agricultural cycle and often enacted to ensure a good harvest, two teams on either end of a rope try to tug it from the other.

Unlike the Western game of tug of war, the practice -- which is popular in Cambodia, Philippines, Vietnam and South Korea -- is non-competitive and is aimed at bringing the community together.