On the 5th, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon strongly criticized the National Heritage Administration's successive brakes on the Sewoon District 4 redevelopment project in front of Jongmyo Shrine, saying, "This kind of deliberation cannot be called deliberation. It is a mongni disguised as administration."
On this day, Mayor Oh posted a post on Facebook titled ‘The biggest enemy of national heritage is the National Heritage Administration’ and took a direct hit.
He then urged, “The National Heritage Administration should immediately stop the mongering and review it based on reasonable legal grounds and reasonable standards.”
Mayor Oh Se-hoon said, “Seun District 4, across from Jongmyo Shrine, is a project to rebuild the old city center and open a green axis from Jongmyo to Namsan.” He added, “It was designated as a maintenance area in 2004, but the first shovel hasn’t been able to break ground for 22 years. Now, the National Heritage Administration is putting a bar in front of it.”
In particular, he emphasized that Seun District 4 is outside the World Heritage Site and pointed out that the National Heritage Administration does not present consistent standards in the World Heritage Impact Assessment and Buried Heritage review process.
Mayor Oh pointed out, “The National Heritage Administration forced a World Heritage Impact Assessment, which is not legally required, with the unreasonable claim that it would harm the landscape of Jongmyo Shrine, and even requested cancellation of approval,” adding, “Now, even the deliberation of buried heritage, which must be conducted before construction, was put on hold for three consecutive months in August, September, and October.”
He continued, "At first, they said they would look at it again once the change in the business plan was confirmed, and then they said a field investigation was necessary. Once the field investigation was completed, they came up with the principle of in-situ preservation that the ruins should be left in place."
At the same time, he said, “At the first deliberation in 2024, it was decided to relocate and preserve some,” and asked, “Can we leave the whistle to the referee who moves the goalpost every time the ball is kicked?”
Mayor Oh also criticized the National Heritage Administration for being late in preparing related legal grounds and management standards.
In January of this year, the National Heritage Administration said, "Once the revision of the enforcement ordinance is completed within the first quarter, we plan to legally request a World Heritage impact assessment in accordance with domestic law," and pointed out that on the 4th, it issued a statement saying it would prepare management standards in the future.
Mayor Oh said of this, “This is a confession that we have been binding residents without any legal basis or standards until now,” and added, “Only after the incident broke out, we hastily created regulations and are using those regulations as a club to push the residents.”
He said, “This is like rewriting the rules after the game has started,” and repeatedly urged, “The National Heritage Administration must review based on proper legal grounds and reasonable standards.”
Mayor Oh also mentioned the damage to residents caused by project delays.
He said, "Residents have already filed a lawsuit against the state for damages worth 25 billion won at considerable cost and time," and added, "If the fifth deliberation is postponed on the 18th, the decision will soon become evidence in the lawsuit."
He said, "There is a word called 'UNESCOcide.' It is a combination of 'UNESCO' and 'genocide,' which means genocide, and refers to the phenomenon where regulations under the pretext of protecting world heritage sites are suffocating the lives of residents. If the current groundless administrative abuse and abuse continues, antipathy toward UNESCOcide will hit our society like a tsunami."
Mayor Oh said, “The National Heritage Administration may think it has won by blocking one project, but in return, it is eroding citizens’ affection for cultural heritage.” He added, “The biggest enemy of the national heritage now is none other than the National Heritage Administration.”
Mayor Oh said, "If the city of Seoul is more sincere than anyone else about protecting world heritage sites," he said, "I will no longer watch as the lives of residents are tied up indefinitely under the guise of protecting heritage sites."
