Busan wraps up 48th UNESCO World Heritage Committee session

The city of Busan announced Thursday that it had successfully concluded the 48th UNESCO World Heritage Committee (WHC) session, held at BEXCO from July 19 to 29.

The first such committee meeting held in South Korea in 38 years since the country joined the World Heritage Convention in 1988, the session was also the first hosted in Busan. More than 3,140 officials from 162 countries attended, including the UNESCO Director-General and representatives of 21 member states on the committee. Particularly notable was the participation of Busan's volunteer corps, supporter groups and a children's press corps, earning the event recognition as "an international conference built together with citizens."

The 48th WHC Busan Program Volunteer Corps supported participant activities at the BEXCO venue throughout the event, including field trips and shuttle bus operations. The "Wartime Capital Busan Global Supporters" promoted the committee across both online and offline channels, while an elementary school student press corps shared the significance of world heritage and international conferences with the public from a child's perspective.

A Joseon Tongsinsa procession and a ship-boarding experience held Saturday and Sunday at BEXCO and the reclaimed Yongho Bay pier drew considerable public interest, helping spread to the world the values of peaceful exchange embodied in the "Joseon Tongsinsa Archives," inscribed on the UNESCO Memory of the World Register.

A range of other programs — including a nighttime heritage tour of Busan's wartime-capital sites, an outreach world heritage education initiative and an academic conference on Busan's cultural heritage — were held to discuss and promote the scholarly value of Busan's wartime-capital heritage.

The public response from residents and tourists was strong. The K-Heritage "Korea Pavilion" drew 137,000 visitors, while the Busan Pavilion attracted 42,000, serving as a platform to showcase the city's history and culture. Thirteen programs, including a World Heritage field trip around Busan heritage sites, proved especially popular with international participants — a limited-edition "Visit Busan Pass" commemorating the committee's hosting sold out all 1,000 copies. A regional cultural heritage product line called "Gowaye" recorded sales of around 14 million won ($9,650). The city estimates the economic ripple effect of the committee, including tourist attraction, at 137.2 billion won.

The UNESCO World Heritage Committee formally adopted the "Busan Declaration on World Heritage" on July 20, addressing global crises such as climate change and putting forward "Collaboration" as a new strategic goal of the World Heritage Convention.

Meanwhile, Mayor Jeon Jae-soo met with UNESCO Director-General Khaled El Anany on July 20 during the committee session to discuss future areas of cooperation between Busan and UNESCO. A mayoral welcome dinner held July 23 drew about 150 guests, including UNESCO World Heritage Centre Director Lazare Eloundou Assomo, Ukrainian First Deputy Minister of Culture Ivan Verbytskyi, Cultural Heritage Administration Commissioner Heo Min, and delegations from 17 member states on the committee.

Following the close of the committee session, a Busan city official said the city would work to establish Busan as an international hub for world heritage cooperation — regularizing an international heritage forum with the Cultural Heritage Administration and pursuing a UNESCO Category 2 Centre to serve as a global base for research and education on modern and contemporary urban heritage. Mayor Jeon said the city would "prepare without delay to pursue the inscription of the 'Busan Wartime Capital Heritage from the Korean War Period' on the World Heritage List by 2030, building on the achievements of this session."