By Jeon Misun

The UNESCO World Heritage Committee, which selects cultural and natural sites around the globe considered to have high universal value, will hold its annual session next year in Korea.

The Korea Heritage Service on July 15 said Korea was named the host country for the 48th committee session at this year's meeting in Paris, with Busan to be the venue in July next year. This will be Korea's first time to hold the event.

The annual global conference makes key decisions on the registration, preservation and protection of World Heritage sites under the framework of the UNESCO World Heritage Convention of 1972. About 3,000 participants attend including representatives from the convention's 196 member states and the UNESCO director-general.

On Japan's failure to keep its pledge to "explain the forced labor of Koreans" in return for getting World Heritage status for coal mines on Hashima Island, Seoul said it will maintain bilateral dialogue with Tokyo but emphasized the need for UNESCO's active role if no progress is achieved.

Ambassador to UNESCO Park Sang-mi that day also expressed regret over the committee's failure to discuss Japan's poor follow-up measures for inscription of its modern industrial heritage sites from the Meiji era.

"Korea will do its utmost to back the full enforcement of the Committee's decisions including the use of constructive and responsible bilateral talks," she said. "If the interpretative strategy of the Industrial Heritage Information Center in Tokyo remains an unresolved issue despite these efforts, the Committee must stay responsibly engaged with the matter."

msjeon22@korea.kr