Special Addition: World Heritage Route
From the Wartime Capital to World Heritage: A K-Heritage Journey Beginning in Busan

From traces of prehistoric culture to the living legacy of South Korea’s wartime capital, the mountains and rivers of the Gyeongsang-do region provide a vast repository of human memory. A special route created to commemorate the 2026 UNESCO World Heritage Committee session in Busan offers a unique journey viewing and experiencing firsthand how local narratives came to embody universal values. 

- A Journey to Explore K-Heritage Honored Worldwide

Not everything old becomes heritage. Only when an element has endured the passage of considerable time and emonstrates an Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) worthy of being appreciated by all humanity can it be granted the title World heritage. Ahead of the 48th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee being held in Busan in July 2026, we are spotlighting twenty-nine across the Gyeongsang-do Province region, an area where the pulse of Korean history continues at its most dynamic. 

This journey does not remain exclusively within the areas of ancient splendor established by the Silla Kingdom and Gaya Confederacy. It extends seamlessly to the neo-Confucian academies (seowon) imbued with the spirit of Joseon-era Confucian scholars, Buddhist temple monasteries (sansa), and the modern heritage of the wartime capital of Busan as it preserved national continuity amid the devastation of war. The humble living quarters of wartime refugees and the government office of the temporary capital stand alongside ancient temples and tomb complexes as world heritage sites is that heritage is, ultimately, a record of human survival and dignity forged in the face of adversity. 

The World Heritage Committee Special Routes begins in Busan and extends across the Gyeongsang-do region, tracing a spectacular path of Korean heritage. The twenty-nine sites along the route are far more than simple tourist destinations. Together, they reveal the remarkable process through which local narratives came to be reborn with universal value that resonates with people around the world. 

Let us journey toward the great moments of history shaped by the memory and passage of time in Busan, the wartime capital that stood at the heart of Korea’s modern history as a sanctuary of humanity.