'Don't let this jewel be scratched': UNESCO chief warns against skyscraper near Jongmyo

Lazare Eloundou Assomo, director of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre [Cultural Heritage Administration]

"Ten years from now, no child should have to hear that development around Jongmyo went so far that its value can no longer be fully appreciated."

Lazare Eloundou Assomo, director of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, made the remarks at a press briefing on the sidelines of the 48th UNESCO World Heritage Committee session at BEXCO in Busan. Assomo said "protecting and preserving cultural heritage is a shared responsibility for all of us," and used his visit to South Korea to outline his positions on key issues including the Sado Mine, Jongmyo and the Busan Declaration.

Jongmyo's importance: 'Heritage impact assessment is a must'

A view of Yeongnyeongjeon Hall at Jongmyo Shrine [Korea Tourism Organization]

Assomo described Jongmyo as a "precious jewel" and expressed concern that a planned redevelopment of Sewoon District 4 could damage the shrine's visual integrity. He noted that Jongmyo is celebrated globally — prominent enough to have graced the cover of UNESCO's official World Heritage Magazine — and stressed its importance.

"Jongmyo is an extraordinarily important heritage site that Korea gave to the international community when it became the country's first World Heritage listing," he said. "Because it embodies the history, culture and identity of the Korean people, its preservation is not Korea's responsibility alone — it is something the entire international community must share."

The Seoul Metropolitan Government's revised plan for Sewoon District 4 would raise the permitted building height along Cheonggyecheon from 71.8 meters to 141.9 meters and along Jongno from 54.3 meters to 98.7 meters. The proposal has drawn sustained opposition from those who say it would harm Jongmyo's outstanding universal value and its historic cultural landscape. In March, the UNESCO World Heritage Centre sent a confidential letter recommending that a Heritage Impact Assessment be conducted.

The Jongmyo Daeje royal ancestral rite [Korea Tourism Organization]

"The development pressure Jongmyo is facing is the same challenge confronting World Heritage sites in urban areas all over the world," Assomo said. "The answer lies in two things: first, having the right regulations and legal and administrative tools in place to protect heritage; and second, conducting a Heritage Impact Assessment to understand how development affects heritage values."

A Heritage Impact Assessment, or HIA, examines, predicts and evaluates in advance how a proposed development near a World Heritage site may affect the site's values. Heritage experts and stakeholders participate from the earliest stages of planning to identify the best alternatives, with the goal of preventing visual and structural damage from unchecked development.

"We are pursuing the impact assessment precisely because protecting this precious jewel — Jongmyo — from any harm is the top priority," Assomo said. "The World Heritage Centre will maintain close cooperation with South Korea's Cultural Heritage Administration and continue to support the heritage impact assessment process."

Sado Mine: pushing for 'the whole history' to be told

One of the major decisions at the 48th World Heritage Committee session was the adoption Wednesday of a resolution on Japan's Sado Mine. The resolution calls on the parties to comprehensively address "the whole history" of the mine's operation at the site level and to work closely with the states concerned to improve interpretation and exhibition strategies and facilities. It is widely understood to mean that the forced mobilization and labor of Koreans during the Pacific War must be explicitly reflected in on-site interpretation and displays. The World Heritage Committee also directed Japan to submit a follow-up progress report by Dec. 1, 2027, with Japan's implementation to be reviewed at the 50th session in 2028. Assomo's efforts were widely credited as instrumental in securing the resolution's adoption.

"When a state party applies to have a site inscribed on the World Heritage List, that is a voluntary commitment to abide by the decisions of the committee," Assomo said. "Once the report is submitted, we will work closely with advisory body experts to carefully assess whether the state of conservation has deteriorated and whether the decisions have been fully implemented."

UNESCO World Heritage Centre Director Lazare Eloundou Assomo holds a press briefing at BEXCO in Busan on Thursday during the 48th UNESCO World Heritage Committee session. [Cultural Heritage Administration]

Questions were also raised about whether differing national interpretations could persist even after a resolution is adopted. Japan has largely ignored calls to fully reflect the complete history of the site, including by declining to explicitly include the term "forced mobilization" in its exhibits.

"The most important thing about this resolution is the very fact that it was adopted by consensus among all committee members," Assomo said. "The views, expectations and interests of every member state are reflected in the text, and what matters is that it was adopted as a consensus."

However, since the World Heritage Committee has no sanctions mechanism to compel a specific country to act, Assomo said the goal was to reach a workable agreement through dialogue and cooperation — an approach he said is rooted in UNESCO's founding principles.

"Both Japan and South Korea are extremely important partner countries for UNESCO," he said. "We will continue to work with both and encourage and facilitate dialogue between the two countries."

Busan Declaration adopted, adding 'Collaboration' as sixth strategic objective

UNESCO World Heritage Centre Director Lazare Eloundou Assomo (left) and Cultural Heritage Administration Commissioner Heo Min answer questions at a press conference during the 48th UNESCO World Heritage Committee session at BEXCO in Busan on Monday. [Yonhap]

Assomo also spoke about the Busan Declaration on World Heritage, adopted unanimously on the first day of the session, Monday. The declaration expands the existing five strategic objectives — known as the "5Cs" for Credibility, Conservation, Capacity-building, Communication and Communities — by adding "Collaboration" to create a "6Cs" framework, an outcome driven by South Korea. The move is intended to strengthen international solidarity in responding to complex, overlapping crises such as climate change, armed conflict and development pressure.

"The Busan Declaration is a perfect embodiment of what the World Heritage logo — two hands clasped together — stands for," Assomo said. "I hope the newly added 'Collaboration' takes root as a core UNESCO objective and leads to real change that safely passes humanity's heritage on to future generations."

terry@heraldcorp.com