The Korea Heritage Service said on the 16th that it reported the Seoul Housing and Urban Development Corporation (SH) to authorities after finding that, without the Korea Heritage Service Administrator's permission, it conducted drilling at 11 points and altered the state of the buried heritage preservation area in Sewoon District 4 in Jongno District, Seoul.
The Korea Heritage Service said that day, "We reported SH, the project implementer for Sewoon District 4, to police on suspicion of violating the Act on the Protection and Investigation of Buried Cultural Heritage."
According to the Korea Heritage Service, SH is suspected of carrying out unauthorized drilling at 11 locations within the Sewoon District 4 urban environment redevelopment site without prior permission from the Administrator.
Under the current Buried Cultural Heritage Act, anyone who alters the state of confirmed or excavated buried heritage without authorization is subject to up to 10 years in prison or a fine of up to 100 million won.
An official at the Korea Heritage Service said, "The Sewoon District 4 site is, legally, still a preserved area of buried heritage under excavation," adding, "We determined that SH engaged in illegal activity without permission."
In fact, investigations conducted from 2022 to 2024 found extensive remains at the site, including a Joseon-era road system, building sites and drainage channels.
In particular, traces of a village entrance "Imun" (里門) and a "suheol" (竪穴, pit) where cow bones were buried were identified, and academia is evaluating these as "yugu" (遺構), or structural remains, of high historical value. The preservation plan submitted by SH was put on hold by the Cultural Heritage Committee in 2024 for needing supplementation.
On the 13th, the Korea Heritage Service halted the related activities through an on-site inspection and removed the heavy equipment.
The UNESCO World Heritage Centre said in a letter on the 14th that "if development in the Sewoon district is forced through, it will have a very negative impact on Jongmyo's World Heritage status."
The Centre pointed to the possibility that the construction could damage Jongmyo's outstanding universal value (OUV) and said that, if there is no firm commitment to carry out an impact assessment this month, it could place Jongmyo on the "state of conservation" agenda at the 48th session of the World Heritage Committee in Busan or proceed with an on-site mission.
The conflict erupted after the Seoul Metropolitan Government eased building height limits in Sewoon District 4 last year, accelerating redevelopment. Jongmyo is a national shrine inscribed in 1995 as Korea's first World Heritage site and holds significant historical symbolism. The Korea Heritage Service and the city of Seoul recently held two preliminary coordination meetings but failed to narrow differences over the World Heritage impact assessment and the formation of a consultative body.