Residents of Sewoon Zone 4, a redevelopment site near Jongmyo Shrine in Seoul, have issued an open letter to the head of the Korea Heritage Service demanding that the agency specify the legal basis for its order to conduct a World Heritage impact assessment. They argue that the Cultural Heritage Administration previously deleted a clause requiring separate review and advised that consultation standards were not mandatory, only to demand an assessment later and undermine the predictability of the project.
The Sewoon Zone 4 residents' representative council made the demands in an open letter on the 22nd, asking the Korea Heritage Service to explain the grounds for its impact assessment order, the fairness of its treatment compared with other Sewoon district projects, and why reviews of preservation measures for buried heritage have been repeatedly deferred. Kim Jong-gil, chairman of the Sewoon Zone 4 urban environment improvement project residents' representative council, said, "We ask for a responsible answer so that residents who trusted the state are no longer made victims of a power struggle between agencies."
Residents took issue with the consistency of government administration. According to the letter, the Cultural Heritage Administration deleted a clause stating that "areas within the Sewoon redevelopment promotion district are subject to separate review by the Cultural Heritage Administration" in a January 2017 public notice. In February 2023, residents say, the agency replied to their inquiry through the government's online petition system that consultation standards for Sewoon Zone 4 were not a mandatory requirement.
The residents' council noted that, contrary to that guidance, the Korea Heritage Service in May this year ordered a World Heritage impact assessment and a suspension of approval procedures, on the grounds that it was certain the Sewoon Zone 4 development would have a significant impact on the outstanding universal value of Jongmyo Shrine. The residents demanded that the agency "identify the specific statutory provision that imposes a consultation or assessment obligation on Sewoon Zone 4 at present."
Fairness relative to other projects within the same Sewoon district was also raised as an issue. The residents said that after the separate review clause was deleted in 2017, the Cultural Heritage Administration raised no objection when Sewoon Zones 3-4 and 3-5 withdrew their review requests, and that no review or impact assessment was demanded in 2024 when Sewoon Zones 3-2 and 3-3 and Sewoon Zones 5-1 and 5-3 received approval for revised project implementation plans. On that basis, they urged the agency to explain its rational grounds for ordering an assessment for Sewoon Zone 4.
They also asked whether the review of preservation measures for buried heritage is being linked to the World Heritage impact assessment. The residents said they have completed the dismantling, relocation and storage of excavated remains as well as reburial, and have prepared a preservation plan. They also argue that the reason given for deferring the review in August — that it would be reconsidered after revisions to the project implementation plan were finalized — was already satisfied by the approval notice issued in June. The residents' council demanded that the agency explain, under the laws governing buried heritage, why the review has been repeatedly deferred, and disclose whether there was an internal policy linking the two procedures.
The residents also requested the release of internal review materials related to the compliance order, letters from UNESCO, documents sent by the Korea Heritage Service, and minutes of the buried heritage subcommittee meetings held on Aug. 19 and Sept. 16. Following an on-site inspection on the 16th, they asked that a conclusion on the preservation plan be reached at the next meeting.
The financial burden from project delays is another reason residents are pressing for a swift decision. The cost of the Sewoon Zone 4 project totals about 800 billion won, including demolition and compensation expenses, and interest on 650 billion won of that amount comes to about 1.4 billion won a month.