The Republic of Korea has beenofficially designated as the host country for the 48th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, to be held in July 2026. On July 15, 2025, the 47th session of the World Heritage Committee held in Paris, France (from July 6 to 16, 2025), officially announced that the Republic of Korea will host the next session. Accordingly, the 48th session of the Committee will take place in Busan, selected as the host city following the completion of the national selection process on June 30. While previous sessions of the Committee were held in Asia - including Japan in 1998 and China in 2004 and 2021 — this will the first time the Republic of Korea hosts the UNESCO World Heritage Committee. As chair of the Bureau, the Republic of Korea will coordinate the work of Committee during the 48th session in Busan in 2026. The Bureau will be responsible for determining the dates and times of the meetings, as well as managing procedural arrangement of the session. The World Heritage Committee is an annual international conference convened under the framework of the UNESCO World Heritage Convention, where key decisions are made regarding the inscription, conservation, and management of World Heritage sites.The event brings together approximately 3,000 participants, including representatives from the 196 States Parties to the Convention, the UNESCO Director-General, and various stakeholders involved in World Heritage. The Korea Heritage Service will continue to work in close coordination with relevant government agencies, the Busan Metropolitan Government, and other experts to ensure the successful organization of the 48th session of the World Heritage Committee.

1. Preiod : HERITAGE: TIMELESS TIME - THE 2ND K-HERITAGE IMMERSIVE EXHIBITION 2. Date : July 20 – July 29, 2026 3. Time : 10:00 - 18:00 (Last Entry: 17:00) 4. Venue : BEXCO Exhibition Center 1, Hall 3B <About Exhibition> The 2nd K-Heritage Immersive Exhibition, HERITAGE: TIMELESS TIME, is a monumental media art exhibition that reinterprets Korea’s national heritage through digital technology and immersive content. As a part of the “K-Heritage House,” the premier side event especially organized for the 48th World Heritage Committee, the exhibition incorporates the philosophy and spatial structure of the traditional Korean space, hanok. Inspired by jungjeong, the center courtyard, the space symbolizes the connection between people, time, and cultural heritage.   Visitors enter through a diagonally structured gate and encounter the kinetic artwork Giwa: Parametric. The exhibition continues with Time of Yunseul, inspired by the luminous beauty of mother-of-pearl lacquerware; From Nature, which captures the craftsmanship behind traditional artifacts; and the Immersive Uigwe series, a digital regeneration of the UNESCO Memory of the World. The award-winning media artwork Threads of Connection, recognized by the Red Dot and iF Design Awards, is also featured.   At the heart of the exhibition is Timeless Time, an immersive experience that reflects the enduring value of world heritage across the past and the present. Through this exhibition, visitors are invited to feel the passage of time embedded within cultural heritage and experience the profound emotion and resonance that transcend generations. ○ GIWA: PARAMETRIC / Winner of the 2025 Red Dot Design Award   - Giwa, traditional Korean roof tiles, form an architectural surface that has long existed within the Korean landscape, meeting rain and wind, seasons and time. The layered curves of the tiles flow like waves, while light and shadow slowly pass across their surface. This work is a kinetic artwork that reinterprets the rhythm and flow of traditional roof tiles through a contemporary lens. Countless swaying tile pieces shift endlessly with the movement of the wind, shimmering like a vast field sunlight glittering on water throughout the space. Within this movement, visitors encounter the sense of openness, breath, and time embedded in Korean architecture. ○ TIME OF YUNSEUL   - The colors of mother-of-pearl are reborn as a landscape motif. Within a natural space where waterfalls flow and plants and animals coexist, the peaceful sensibility is brought to life. Just as our ancestors once found calm in nature, visitors are invited to set aside the noise of the city for a moment and experience a sense of ease within this digitally rendered space of nature and tranquility. ○ FROM NATURE   - This media artwork uses artificial intelligence (AI) to depict the birth of traditional Korean crafts — including ceramics, wooden furniture, textiles, and metalwork — from elements of nature such as forests, fire, and the sea, expressed through colorful particles. By encountering the delicate beauty of these crafts on a vast screen, rather than viewing them only from a distance beyond museum display cases, visitors can experience them with a renewed sense of wonder. ○ IMMERSIVE UIGWE   - A unique form of documentary heritage, the "Uigwe" is a collection of Royal Protocols of the over 500 year-long Joseon Dynasty, that both records and prescribes through prose and illustration the major ceremonies and rites of the royal family. The collection of Uigwe was inscribed in UNESCO's Memory of the World International Register in 2007, recognising it as documentary heritage of global importance. Beyond their role as historical records, the Uigwe served as a means for the state to commemorate and preserve its own memory. Among them, ‘Gillye’ refers to ancestral rites honoring the achievements of past generations and affirming the legitimacy of the royal lineage, while ‘Hyungnye’ documents the highly regulated funeral procedures for kings and queens. Reborn as media art, Immersive Uigwe unfolds beyond the fixed pages of historical records, revealing the enduring and transformative sensibility embedded within these royal ceremonies. ○ THREADS OF CONNECTION / Winner of the 2025 Red Dot Design Award, Winner of the 2026 iF Design Award   - This multi-sided media artwork uses 146 national heritage 3D assets held by the Korea Heritage Service to reveal the beauty and renewed value of Korean heritage. Composed of five parts — ‘Discovering Connection’, ‘The Value of Connection’, ‘The Harmony of Connection’, ‘A Feast of Connection’, and ‘The Expansion of Connection’ — the work invites visitors to experience cultural heritage, intangible heritage, and even the intricate details of traditional architecture within a multidimensional space. ○ TIMELESS TIME   - At the heart of the installation, a monumental LED monolith and the surrounding panoramic screens diffuse light throughout the space, presenting a creative and condensed journey through the passage of time inscribed within Korea’s National Heritage. Structured around Jeju Volcanic Island and Lava Tubes, Seokguram Grotto, and Jongmyo Shrine, the work weaves together a single narrative of natural formation, human ingenuity, and the transmission of cultural memory. Through the evolving interplay of light, spatial form, and architectural structure, it evokes the processes by which heritage is created, preserved, and carried forward across generations. Immersed in a dynamic environment of light and sound, visitors encounter the enduring significance of Korea’s National Heritage, experiencing a continuum of time in which nature, culture, and memory converge. ○ K-HERITAGE: THE ROYAL PROCESSION OF JOSEON   - A scene from ‘Hwaseong Haenghaengdo’, the eight-panel folding screen depicting King Jeongjo’s royal procession to Suwon in 1795, is recreated as media art. Placed at the end of the exhibition, the work leads visitors outward, creating the sensation of joining the procession across time. As visitors leave the exhibition alongside the royal procession, they carry with them the joy and lasting impression of Korea’s national heritage.

1. Schedule Information(Jul)   ○ Changing of the Royal Palace Guard Ceremony      - Time : 10:00 / 14:00   ○ Guard Duty Performance       - Time : 11:00 / 13:00   ○ Guard Training Session      - Time : 09:35 / 13:35 2. Due to the opening ceremony of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, all scheduled events from Jul 18 (Sat) to Jul 20 (Mon) will be replaced by the Guard Duty Performance.(10:00/11:00/13:00/14:00) ※ The Ceremonial Events can be canceled due to weather condition. ※ Guard patrol ceremony is not operating until August due to the hot weather. See you again in September!

Online Application for Special Passport in commemoration of the 48th Session of World Heritage Committee [WORLD HERITAGE COMMITTEE SPECIAL PASSPORT] ○ Korea’s UNESCO World Heritage bridges the future through our present. These precious heritage sites, preserved for thousands of years, become part of your story as you explore them today. Follow the special course of the 48th World Heritage Committee and complete your very own heritage map. ○ The 48th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, to be held in Busan in July 2026, is a historic occasion, marking the first time that the Republic of Korea is hosting the session as the chair country, 38 years after joining the World Heritage Convention in 1988. With this Special Passport commemorating the 48th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, we invite you to discover the profound value of Korean heritage, preserved across thousands of years. 1. Application Guide (Apply Online)   ○ Application Period : 2:00 p.m., June 10 (Wed), 2026 ~ While Supplies Last   ○ URL : https://kheritagepass.com/_project/?promotion=unesco2026 2. Eligibility : Korean nationals and foreign nationals aged 14 or older who can complete identity verification using a mobile phone registered under their own name. (Each person may request up to four passports)   ○ Existing holders of the 'Korean Heritage Visitor's Passport' may also apply. 3. Application Fee : Free (Shipping fees are payable cash on delivery) 4. How to Apply   ○ Apply for the 'World Heritage Committee Special Passport' on the 'Visit Korean Heritage Campaign' website.   ○ Complete identity verification via mobile text message or the PASS app, and submit your application. 5. How to Receive Your Passport : After applying online, receive it by cash-on-delivery courier or pick it up in person at the Visit Korean Heritage Campaign PR Center (at Incheon International Airport).   ○ If you choose pickup at the Visit Korean Heritage Campaign PR Center (at Incheon International Airport), please collect your passport within 2 weeks of submitting your application.   ○ After 2 weeks, your application record will be deleted and you will need to apply again.   ○ Directions to the Visit Korean Heritage Campaign PR Center (at Incheon International Airport) K-Heritage Visitor Center in the Incheon International Airport Terminal 1 Transportation Center (B1)     - Open. 10:00-19:00(Closed on the Wednesday of every month) | Inquiries. +82-32-743-0354 6. Delivery Period : Shipments will be sent out sequentially starting Monday, June 1, 2026. 7. Delivery Fee : KRW 3,500 to a maximum of KRW 4,500 via Korea Post cash-on-delivery courier.   (Additional charges may apply for Jeju and other remote island and mountainous areas)   ○ Delivery fees vary by region and are subject to change depending on Korea Post courier conditions.   ○ Before delivery, the post office serving your area will send detailed courier information, and the cash-on-delivery fee may be prepaid through the Korea Post parcel app.   ○ Only applications for up to 4 passports, the maximum number per person, submitted at the same time will be shipped together. If separate applications are submitted under different mobile phone verifications, they will be shipped separately even if the delivery address is the same. 8. Benefits and Events for World Heritage Committee Special Passport   ○ After visiting the World Heritage site and stamping your passport, please visit the K-Heritage House(the Visit Korean Heritage Campaign promotion booth at BEXCO in Busan). Special benefits and events await you!   ○ Benefits and Events for World Heritage Committee Special Passport    - Event Period : 20(Mon) - 29(Wed) July, 2026    - Event Location: visit the K-Heritage House (the Visit Korean Heritage Campaign promotion booth at BEXCO in Busan)    - How to Apply :Present your Special Passport with '5 or more verified stamps' at the promotion booth to receive a commemorative gift. Carry your 'Special Passport,' collect stamps at 4 or more World Heritage stops, and then visit 'K-Heritage House' as your fifth and final stop! 9. Please Note   ○ This commemorative gift is available only on-site at BEXCO during the Committee session and cannot be claimed after the event period.   ○ Only stamps affixed in this Special Passport will count toward the '5 or more stamps' verification requirement.   ○ Stamps collected in other passports cannot be combined with those in this Special Passport.   ○ Commemorative gifts for event participants are available while supplies last and may run out early. 10. Completion Event   ○ After completing all stops by November 30, 2026, take part in the Completion Commemorative Gift Application Event in December.     - Application Period : 1(Thu) – 13(Sun) December, 2026     - How to Apply : Applications can be submitted through the Visit Korean Heritage Campaign website during the application period. Visit Korean Heritage Campaign World Heritage Committee Special Routes : https://www.kh.or.kr/brd/board/1049/L/menu/885?brdType=R&bbIdx=119259

Special Addition: World Heritage RouteFrom 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.