Assessment result from UNESCO's official advisory body on cultural heritage
Yangju city announced Monday that the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), the official advisory body to UNESCO on cultural heritage, has assessed that the Yangju Hoeamsa Temple Site likely meets World Heritage inscription criteria (ii) and (iii).
The Preliminary Assessment is an international review system UNESCO introduced in 2021 to allow heritage sites to receive early-stage evaluations of their integrity, authenticity and outstanding universal value through consultations with advisory bodies, improving the prospects of a successful nomination.
Yangju city submitted a preliminary assessment application to the UNESCO World Heritage Centre in September 2025 for "Hoeamsa Temple Site: A Typical Archaeological Site of a 14th-Century East Asian Seon Buddhist Monastery." After more than a year of document review, the city recently received ICOMOS's assessment findings.
ICOMOS stated in its assessment that "Hoeamsa Temple Site is considered likely to meet World Heritage inscription criteria (ii) and (iii)." The body also issued recommendations, including expanding the property boundary to encompass a broader landscape setting and strengthening the descriptions of criteria (ii) and (iii).
Criterion (ii) evaluates significant cultural exchanges in the fields of architecture, technology and the arts, while criterion (iii) concerns unique testimony to a living or vanished cultural tradition or civilization.
Yangju city plans to incorporate the preliminary assessment recommendations and work with the Cultural Heritage Administration and Gyeonggi Province to pursue follow-up steps, including selection as a World Heritage nomination candidate. The city aims to achieve final inscription by 2029.
pjh@heraldcorp.com
