A view of Jongmyo Shrine and Sewoon District 4 redevelopment space is seen on this Nov. 18 file photograph. Yonhap
The Korea Heritage Service (KHS) on Thursday designated roughly 194,000 sq. meters round Jongmyo Shrine — the royal Confucian shrine the place ancestral rites for Joseon Dynasty kings are nonetheless carried out to at the present time — as a world heritage zone, aiming to curb high-rise growth close to the protected website.
Inbuilt 1395, Jongmyo homes ancestral tablets bearing the names of 49 Joseon kings and queens. Designated a UNESCO World Heritage website in 1995, it’s broadly considered the world’s oldest and most intact Confucian royal ancestral shrine, with its unique structure preserved.
The transfer comes after the Seoul Metropolitan Authorities’s October determination to lift constructing peak limits in Sewoon District 4 — a redevelopment space positioned roughly 180 meters from the shrine — to as a lot as 141.9 meters.
Nevertheless, the KHS instantly pushed again, saying the transfer might undermine the shrine’s excellent common worth.
The company famous that when Jongmyo was inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage Checklist, the U.N. cultural physique specified that no close by high-rise building must be accepted, as it could hurt the positioning’s panorama.
Beneath the legislation, the administrator of the KHS could designate World Heritage zones and buffer areas round websites deemed essential for defense.
As soon as designated, initiatives involving constructing or facility building or enlargement that would have an effect on a website’s excellent common worth should bear an evaluation to establish and mitigate potential impacts.
Though Sewoon District 4 is just not included throughout the designated zone, a KHS official informed The Korea Instances that the legislation permits the administrator of the KHS to require a Heritage Impression Evaluation for initiatives outdoors the zone.
“This designation serves to ascertain the authorized grounds for the company to take associated measures,” the official added.
When requested about its stance on the current growth, the Korean Nationwide Fee for UNESCO informed The Korea Instances it was not able to remark.
Final week, the KHS and the town authorities held a preliminary coordination assembly however failed to succeed in an settlement.
This isn’t the primary time the company has sought to curb Seoul’s high-rise growth plans.
The company stated Wednesday that it plans to concern a public discover on a revised enforcement decree that might require approval for sure growth initiatives inside 500 meters of designated cultural heritage websites.
Town authorities pushed again, calling the plan extreme and an overlapping regulation that quantities to de facto prior approval by the central authorities.
“If the general public involves affiliate World Heritage designation with decline in surrounding areas, it could be deeply undesirable for the long-term safety of cultural heritage,” stated Lee Min-kyung, the town’s spokesperson. “Town will proceed to press for cheap institutional modifications after intently inspecting the impression of the proposed decree revision.”
Beneath UNESCO guidelines, World Heritage websites may be added to the “at risk” listing, and even lose their standing, if growth pressures threaten their correct stewardship.
Vienna’s historic middle was added to the World Heritage in Hazard listing in 2017 over considerations that speedy city growth was damaging its cultural panorama. The U.Ok.’s Liverpool Maritime Mercantile Metropolis, inscribed in 2004, was added to the hazard listing in 2012 amid large-scale redevelopment and misplaced its World Heritage standing 9 years later.
