UNESCO World Heritage Committee to Meet in Busan July 19-29

The 48th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee will take place in Busan from July 19 to 29, Yonhap reported. It is the first time South Korea has hosted the meeting since joining the World Heritage Convention in 1988. The session is expected to draw some 3,000 participants from 196 member states, international organizations and non-governmental entities.

The committee discusses and decides on the inscription, conservation and management of World Heritage sites. The Korea Heritage Service said Tuesday that the session will serve as a national heritage festival. It will operate a Korea Pavilion at the Busan Exhibition and Convention Center with 35 institutions running 45 exhibition and hands-on booths.

Exhibits at the pavilion include a themed display on Korea and UNESCO that presents 17 World Heritage sites, among them Hwaseong Fortress, Namhansanseong and Sansa. An immersive media art exhibition titled Heritage: Timeless Time will feature a 9-meter-tall installation, and a dedicated space will cover Yeongsanjae, a Buddhist ritual on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list.

The Busan metropolitan government will also host a pavilion at the center.

Outside the venue, the Busan Cinema Center will screen travel-themed films featuring UNESCO World Heritage sites, and the Busan Museum will present a special exhibition on documentary heritage drawn from UNESCO's Memory of the World register and Korea's royal archives. Busan lies some 330 kilometers southeast of Seoul.