A major cultural preservation dispute has erupted as the Cultural Heritage Committee of the Korea Heritage Service strongly condemned Seoul Metropolitan Government's controversial plan to construct towering high-rise buildings adjacent to the historic Jongmyo Shrine. The advisory committee, which plays a crucial role in protecting South Korea's cultural treasures, characterized the city's ambitious development proposal for the Sewun 4 District as a reckless decision that completely ignores previously established social consensus and threatens the integrity of one of the nation's most sacred historical sites.
The heated controversy centers around Seoul's dramatic revision of building height restrictions in the area directly across from the 14th-century Confucian shrine, a move that has sparked widespread concern among heritage preservation experts. The Cultural Heritage Committee, whose primary responsibility involves studying and deliberating on critical matters related to the preservation and management of cultural heritage sites throughout the country, announced that it is closely monitoring these developments with serious concern and taking the situation extremely seriously.
The committee emphasized that a carefully negotiated agreement had already been reached with Seoul Metropolitan Government back in 2018, following years of extensive consultation and thorough review processes. Under that original compromise, building heights were strictly limited to a maximum of 55 meters for structures overlooking the historic Jongno area and up to 71.9 meters for buildings facing Cheonggye Stream. Committee officials stressed that this earlier agreement represented the result of painstaking coordination efforts where heritage preservation and urban development interests could coexist harmoniously, with all parties involved reaching a mutually acceptable solution.
However, Seoul Metropolitan Government has recently shocked heritage advocates by dramatically increasing these maximum height limits to 101 meters and 145 meters respectively, representing nearly a doubling of the previously agreed-upon restrictions. The Cultural Heritage Committee issued a scathing denunciation of this unilateral height revision, arguing that the city's actions demonstrate a clear and troubling bias in favor of commercial development interests while completely disregarding the social consensus that had been carefully built over years of negotiation.
The committee has urgently called upon Seoul Metropolitan Government to conduct a comprehensive World Heritage Impact Assessment before proceeding with any construction plans, emphasizing that preserving Jongmyo's outstanding universal value represents both an international commitment and a binding obligation under UNESCO guidelines. Officials pointed out that Jongmyo Shrine holds the distinguished status of being one of South Korea's earliest UNESCO World Heritage sites, having been inscribed in 1995 specifically for its exceptional significance as the oldest and most intact royal Confucian shrine in the world.
According to Korea Heritage Service records, UNESCO's original inscription conditions explicitly stipulated that no high-rise building permits should be granted in adjacent areas that could potentially harm the landscape integrity of this World Heritage site. This international recognition underscores the global importance of maintaining the shrine's historical context and visual environment, making Seoul's proposed high-rise development particularly controversial from both national and international perspectives.
