The Korea Heritage Service said it will streamline procedures for assessing how development activities around World Heritage sites, including Jongmyo, could affect the sites. The move is seen as an attempt to tamp down criticism that the World Heritage impact assessment system could block development in front of Jongmyo. The Seoul city government criticized the Korea Heritage Service for rejecting transparent verification.
Hur Min, head of the Korea Heritage Service, said at a roundtable at Government Complex Seoul on the 19th, "Some worry that introducing World Heritage impact assessments will become regulations that block development or hinder development policies," adding, "But World Heritage impact assessments are not a system to oppose development or to strengthen regulations."
He went on, calling it "an innovative strategic tool that supports urban development by promoting mutually beneficial development while protecting the universal value of World Heritage," and said, "Requests for World Heritage impact assessments on development projects around Jongmyo are not pressure tactics to block development."
Hur also said, "As long as the overarching premise of protecting World Heritage values is met, the Korea Heritage Service has no reason to oppose development for the advancement of local communities," adding, "We will actively support reasonable alternatives derived through World Heritage impact assessments so that improvements to the residential environment of the Sewoon district's residents and the exercise of property rights do not conflict with the protection of World Heritage values."
Hur argued that by introducing World Heritage impact assessments, the impact on heritage should be diagnosed in advance from the development-planning stage and used to ensure that development policies, such as policies to supply dwellings, can go hand in hand with heritage values. He added that the Korea Heritage Service will not place the entire assessment burden solely on project operators and will streamline regulations and administrative procedures. He also said that for major matters like Jongmyo, the agency will work with international bodies, including the UNESCO World Heritage Centre.
In response, the Seoul city government pushed back, saying, "The head of the Korea Heritage Service repeated the existing claim that redevelopment of Sewoon Zone 4 must undergo a World Heritage impact assessment, pressuring the city and Jongno residents."
Lee Min-kyung, the Seoul city government Spokesperson, said in a statement, "The Seoul city government has continuously urged the Korea Heritage Service to proceed with consultations on all matters, including the World Heritage impact assessment, through a four-party public-private-political consultative body with resident participation," adding, "The head of the Korea Heritage Service has not accepted this, and to date has not provided any official response."
Lee continued, "Regarding the claim of damage to the Jongmyo skyline, the Seoul city government proposed a joint on-site measurement to determine the actual building heights, but the Korea Heritage Service rejected even this," adding, "We cannot help but doubt whether the Korea Heritage Service, which refuses objective and transparent verification and communication while parroting only the World Heritage impact assessment, has any intention of resolving the issue through consultations with the city."
The Spokesperson said, "Starting together with an on-site verification to actually measure the building heights in Sewoon Zone 4, as proposed by the city, should be the starting point of the discussion," adding, "We ask the Korea Heritage Service to refrain from making claims that distort actual building heights and to agree to an objective joint measurement using the advertising balloons installed on-site by the city."
At the end of last year, the Korea Heritage Service reissued a legislative notice of a revision to the enforcement decree of the World Heritage Act, detailing matters such as which projects are subject to World Heritage impact assessments, prior review procedures, and the preparation of assessment reports.