The Busan session added 25 sites including Japan's Asuka-Fujiwara capitals and France's Normandy beaches. Vienna was removed from the danger list, sparking criticism.
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The first UNESCO World Heritage Committee meeting held in South Korea wrapped up Wednesday after a 10-day session that added 25 new sites to the global heritage list.
The 48th session at the BEXCO convention center in Busan brought the total number of World Heritage properties to 1,273 across 173 countries, the committee said. Among the new inscriptions were Japan's "Asuka-Fujiwara: Archaeological sites of Japan's Ancient Capitals and Related Properties" and France's "Beaches of the D-Day Landings, Normandy, 1944."
South Korea secured an extension of its "Getbol, Korean Tidal Flats" site, listed in 2021, to include additional tidal flat areas on the western and southern coasts. Two sites had their boundaries expanded during the session; a separate case involved a change of criteria.
The committee reviewed the conservation status of 148 properties. Six were placed on the List of World Heritage in Danger, including Lebanon's ancient port city of Tyre and the historic inner city of Paramaribo in Suriname. Tyre and Paramaribo face threats to their integrity, the committee said.
In a move that drew sharp criticism from some heritage experts and delegations, delegates voted to remove Vienna's historic centre from the List of World Heritage in Danger. The decision followed protracted debates over tensions between urban development and the protection of the city's historic and cultural landscape.
Delegates also discussed ways to boost representation for Africa and Small Island Developing States, a group of low-lying island nations vulnerable to climate change impacts.
Lee Byong-hyun, chair of the 48th session, thanked delegations for their work. The session reaffirmed "our firm will to protect humanity's outstanding universal value is united as one despite differing perspectives," he said.
The next World Heritage Committee session is scheduled to take place in Istanbul. Turkey will also take the chair next year by custom. Armenia, Grenada, Vietnam, Tanzania and Kuwait were elected as vice-chairs.
Turkey previously hosted the 40th meeting in Istanbul in July 2016. That session was disrupted by a military coup attempt before being resumed at UNESCO headquarters in Paris three months later.
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