By Kwon Mee-yoo
Staff Reporter

Seoul City is not giving up on its plan to construct a large building in front of an ancient relic that is designated as part of the world's heritage.

Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) are leading the effort to thwart the development plan but it remains to be seen whether they can.

Last Wednesday, the Cultural Heritage Administration, the government agency responsible for the preservation of old treasures, told the city to put its 122-meter, 36-story building plan on hold, asking for a new plan to prevent the planned building from obstructing the view of Jongmyo, the royal shrine, in downtown Seoul. Jongmyo has been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1995

Officials at the Paris-based organization were not available, despite repeated attempts to have it respond to the latest developments. The city argues that its building has received the green light from UNESCO but civic organizations argue that the plan would be detrimental to Jeongmyo.

The Cultural Properties Committee (CPC) under the Cultural Heritage Administration, which is composed of experts, concluded that the plan has a risk of blocking views of the old shrine.

The conclusion came after Hwang Pyung-woo, the director of the Cultural Heritage Policy Research Institute (CHPRI), a private research center on the preservation of historic relics, asked for a review.

"The city's plan is incompatible with our traditional landscaping. It may be good with the gardens of Versailles, but not to Jongmyo," Hwang told The Korea Times.

The plan is Mayor Oh Se-hoon's pet project to set up more wooded areas in downtown Seoul but Hwang says that it is merely a development plan for more concrete buildings.

Being removed from the UNESCO World Heritage List would be a disgrace, Hwang said. "Jongmyo is a world heritage now and the world should protect and preserve it. It's not an issue for Koreans anymore."

The International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) Korea, an international non-governmental organization of professionals dedicated to the conservation of the world's historic monuments and sites, also asked the city to come up with principles in its development.

"There are two important things: how to preserve the environment of Jongmyo and how to develop old Seoul, inside the four main gates, as a historical city," Lee Sang-hae, the president of ICOMOS Korea said. "The city should have principles in its development plan but it has the habit of improvising as problems occur."

SH Corp., the city-affiliated company in charge of housing development projects in Seoul, is considering several temporary steps.

"There is no specific standard for the height of a building near cultural properties. The committee did not give us particular directions to alter the plan," said an official. "We will discuss the matter with the representatives of the residents and decide how to revise the design."

SH Corp. claims that experts had been consulted and they suggested planting trees in Jongmyo as an alternative. The suggestion was rejected by cultural administration officials.

"Among several ideas, lowering the height of the original plan is the most likely one," the official said. "If we change the height, we have to redesign and go through inquiries and assessment of environmental impact again. Time is money and the delay is related to the commercial viability of the project."

He mentioned nothing about the building plan possibly being nixed.

meeyoo@koreatimes.co.kr