Korea Heritage Service designates Jongmyo Shrine as world heritage zone

A view of Jongmyo Shrine and Sewoon District 4 redevelopment area is seen in this Nov. 18 file photo. Yonhap

The Korea Heritage Service (KHS) on Thursday designated roughly 194,000 square meters around Jongmyo Shrine — the royal Confucian shrine where ancestral rites for Joseon Dynasty kings are still performed to this day — as a world heritage zone, aiming to curb high-rise development near the protected site.

Built in 1395, Jongmyo houses ancestral tablets bearing the names of 49 Joseon kings and queens. Designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1995, it is widely regarded as the world’s oldest and most intact Confucian royal ancestral shrine, with its original layout preserved.

The move comes after the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s October decision to raise building height limits in Sewoon District 4 — a redevelopment area located roughly 180 meters from the shrine — to as much as 141.9 meters.

However, the KHS immediately pushed back, saying the move could undermine the shrine’s outstanding universal value.

The agency noted that when Jongmyo was inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List, the U.N. cultural body specified that no nearby high-rise construction should be approved, as it would harm the site’s landscape.

Under the law, the administrator of the KHS may designate World Heritage zones and buffer areas around sites deemed necessary for protection.

Once designated, projects involving building or facility construction or expansion that could affect a site’s outstanding universal value must undergo an assessment to identify and mitigate potential impacts.

Although Sewoon District 4 is not included within the designated zone, a KHS official told The Korea Times that the law allows the administrator of the KHS to require a Heritage Impact Assessment for projects outside the zone.

“This designation serves to establish the legal grounds for the agency to take related measures,” the official added.

When asked about its stance on the recent development, the Korean National Commission for UNESCO told The Korea Times it was not in a position to comment.

Last week, the KHS and the city government held a preliminary coordination meeting but failed to reach an agreement.

This is not the first time the agency has sought to curb Seoul’s high-rise development plans.

The agency said Wednesday that it plans to issue a public notice on a revised enforcement decree that would require approval for certain development projects within 500 meters of designated cultural heritage sites.

The city government pushed back, calling the plan excessive and an overlapping regulation that amounts to de facto prior approval by the central government.

“If the public comes to associate World Heritage designation with decline in surrounding areas, it would be deeply undesirable for the long-term protection of cultural heritage,” said Lee Min-kyung, the city’s spokesperson. “The city will continue to press for reasonable institutional changes after closely examining the impact of the proposed decree revision.”

Under UNESCO rules, World Heritage sites can be added to the “in danger” list, or even lose their status, if development pressures threaten their proper stewardship.

Vienna’s historic center was added to the World Heritage in Danger list in 2017 over concerns that rapid urban development was damaging its cultural landscape. The U.K.’s Liverpool Maritime Mercantile City, inscribed in 2004, was added to the danger list in 2012 amid large-scale redevelopment and lost its World Heritage status nine years later.