Sewoon District 4 Across from Jongmyo: Height Limit Raised to 145m, Cultural Heritage Administration Objects

Seoul City Announces Amendment Allowing Buildings up to 145 Meters along Cheonggyecheon
Disagreement over Legal Interpretation for Area 180 Meters from Jongmyo
Cultural Heritage Administration Opposes Plan, Citing Concerns over Jongmyo's Landscape

A plan has been announced to allow the construction of a business facility up to 145 meters high in the Sewoon District 4, located across from Jongmyo, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Cultural Heritage Administration has opposed the plan, arguing that it could damage the view of Jongmyo, and the controversy is expected to continue.

According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government on November 3, the city published an official notice in its municipal gazette on October 30 regarding the "Decision (Amendment) on the Sewoon Redevelopment Promotion District and District 4 Redevelopment Promotion Plan and Topographic Map."

Jongmyo is located just north of Sewoon District 4, but it is outside the 100-meter boundary set by Seoul for the Historic and Cultural Environment Preservation Area. This area is defined by local ordinances, in consultation with the head of the Cultural Heritage Administration, as being within 500 meters of the outer boundary of a heritage site, but in Seoul, the limit is set at 100 meters. Jongmyo, a royal shrine that houses the ancestral tablets of the kings and queens, emperors and empresses of the Joseon Dynasty and the Korean Empire, was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995.

Under the newly announced redevelopment promotion plan, the maximum building height in Sewoon District 4 has been changed from the previous limits of 55 meters along Jongno and 71.9 meters along Cheonggyecheon to 98.7 meters along Jongno and 141.9 meters along Cheonggyecheon. Initially, the plan allowed for business and retail facilities of 15 to 20 stories, but with this amendment, buildings can now be constructed up to 41 stories high.

The city and the Cultural Heritage Administration have held discussions, but have not reached an agreement. The Cultural Heritage Administration maintains that the original height limits of 55 to 71.9 meters should be upheld. The administration argues that a World Heritage Impact Assessment is required under the Special Act on the Preservation, Management, and Use of World Heritage Sites, but the city believes that this area is not subject to such regulations.

A Seoul city official explained, "The height and other requirements demanded by the Cultural Heritage Administration have no legal basis, so we cannot propose them to residents," adding, "Because there is no legal basis, the Cultural Heritage Administration also used the term 'recommendation.'"

Although Sewoon District 4 was designated as a redevelopment area in 2004 and received project implementation approval in 2018, progress has been slow. The project's profitability was low due to height restrictions, and repeated reviews for historical landscape preservation have caused long delays. Even after the recent amendment to the redevelopment promotion plan, Sewoon District 4 still faces further steps, including integrated review and changes to the project implementation plan.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government stated, "Residents had proposed a building height of 180 meters, but we determined it was not feasible to accept the proposal as is. We applied the angle-of-elevation standard and set the height at 145 meters," adding, "Up to 100 meters from the Jongmyo wall is designated as a Historic and Cultural Environment Preservation Area. Since buildings can be constructed below the angle-of-elevation standard within this area, we applied this standard and set the height even lower outside the preservation area."

There are also concerns about a repeat of the "royal tomb view" controversy. In the past, the Cultural Heritage Administration (now the Cultural Heritage Administration) filed complaints against three apartment complexes built 450 meters from Jangneung, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Gimpo, and the Seo-gu District Office in Incheon, leading to construction being halted. However, the construction companies ultimately won the legal case.

Meanwhile, on November 3, the Cultural Heritage Administration issued a statement expressing "deep regret" that the Seoul Metropolitan Government had announced the amendment to the redevelopment promotion plan for Sewoon District 4 near Jongmyo without following the procedures recommended by UNESCO.

The Cultural Heritage Administration added, "With the Seoul Metropolitan Government unilaterally raising the height limit to 145 meters, there are concerns about the negative impact on the outstanding universal value of Jongmyo. We requested that the city maintain the existing agreement and, in accordance with UNESCO recommendations, conduct a World Heritage Impact Assessment before proceeding with any amendments, but the city did not accept this and pushed ahead with the amendment."