Fires in the Republic of Korea: UNESCO stands ready to support the authorities for the protection and restoration of heritage

UNESCO expresses its solidarity with the firefighters and the authorities of the Republic of Korea who have been facing unprecedented fires in recent days. In view of the heavy human toll, the Organisation also extends its most sincere thoughts to the victims and their families.

As part of its mandate, UNESCO has been monitoring the damage to heritage and culture. These forest fires have indeed posed a significant threat to several properties inscribed on the World Heritage List.

The Historic Village of Hahoe in Andong, recognised for its traditional architecture and inscribed on the List in 2010, has been threatened by the approaching fires. The Byeongsan Seowon Confucian Academy, which is part of the World Heritage Site ‘Seowon, Korean Neo-Confucian Academies’ and elements of the Sansa, Buddhist Mountain Monasteries in Korea, were also close to the advancing flames.

UNESCO commends the authorities for taking immediate action, deploying more than 750 professionals to the heritage sites to carry out inspections and implement emergency protection measures.

These actions helped to prevent the World Heritage sites from being directly affected by the fires and cultural property of universal value from disappearing.

Unfortunately, the scale of the disaster caused significant damage to other Korean cultural sites of national importance, such as the 7th-century Gounsa Temple in Uiseong County, which was destroyed.

UNESCO remains ready to provide any expertise that may be deemed necessary by the authorities to further strengthen the protection of heritage sites. The Organization also remains at their disposal, once the emergency is over, to plan the restoration of cultural property, wherever possible, and to draw up updated risk prevention plans.