Choi Eung-chon, center, head of the Cultural Heritage Administration, now called Korea Heritage Service, reacts after Gaya Tumuli, tomb clusters of Korea's ancient Gaya confederacy, was added to UNESCO's World Heritage list during the World Heritage Committee held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Sept. 17, 2023. Courtesy of Korea Heritage Service

Korea is set to bid for the opportunity to host the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, the largest annual international event on the cultural heritage calendar, for the first time next year, according to the Korea Heritage Service (KHS) on Tuesday.

"To host the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in Korea for the first time, we plan to actively respond to the selection of the next host country at the 47th UNESCO World Heritage Committee meeting in July by holding a public contest for host cities in the first half of 2025 and operating a dedicated organization," the KHS announced in its key work plan for this year.

The KHS is a state-run agency responsible for overseeing the preservation and maintenance of national heritage.

At the 47th World Heritage Committee, to be held in Bulgaria this July, the venue for the 48th edition, scheduled for 2026, will be decided.

The World Heritage Committee is a UNESCO committee responsible for determining UNESCO World Heritage Sites. This annual event has been hosted by Thailand in Phuket in 1994, Japan in Kyoto in 1998, and China in Fuzhou in 2021 among Asian nations, but Korea hasn't hosted it yet.

To enhance the country's global status and influence, the KHS will also diversify its cooperation with UNESCO by hosting the International Council on Monuments and Sites' Asia-Pacific regional meeting in April and establishing a UNESCO Intangible Heritage Trust Fund worth 1 billion won ($700,000).

In addition, the agency said it will focus more on preserving natural and intangible heritage and implement policies to make cultural heritage more accessible to the people this year.

“This year marks the beginning of fully implementing the national heritage system. We will make every effort not only to regulate and preserve national heritage as in the past, but also to help people benefit from it in their daily lives and experience its intrinsic value,” Choi Eung-chon, administrator of the KHS, said.

As part of the plan, the agency will first survey animal species among natural monuments in the natural heritage sector, comprehensively investigating the number of individuals, distribution and habitat density of animals distributed nationwide. Additionally, they plan to strengthen the regular management of plant heritage through a treatment history management system.