Turn Korea's DMZ into a UNESCO World Heritage Site

Turning Korea’s DMZ into a UNESCO World Heritage Site

-A New Paradigm for Trust-Building on the Korean Peninsula-

The DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) has served as a buffer zone and thus the boundary between North and South Korea since the end of the Korean War in 1953. Since then, it has become an accidental paradise for rare plants and flowers and endangered animals. Collaborative efforts to turn Korea’s DMZ into a UNESCO World Heritage Site can serve as a trust-building measure among the Six-Party nations and provide a new paradigm for peace-building on the Korean peninsula. Environmental and cultural cooperation, prompted by international and politically neutral scientists and scholars, will offer a unique opportunity in the DMZ transformation.

For nearly two decades, the Six-Party states—the two Koreas, the United States, China, Russia, and Japan—either bilaterally or multilaterally have attempted to denuclearize North Korea and make peace on the Korean peninsula. Many options considered by the US and its allies, including a preemptive military strike and coercive economic sanctions against North Korea, have proven ineffectual or ethically unsupportable. Political and diplomatic negotiations have lacked both mutual regard among the parties and faith in the process. They have also proven to be useless.

There is a window of opportunity in the DMZ to preserve the last remnants of Korea’s native biodiversity, much of which has been extirpated elsewhere on the peninsula. The DMZ contains over 1,100 plants species, more than 80 fish species, and approximately 50 mammal species, including the Asiatic Black Bear, leopard, lynx, Goral sheep and possibly tigers. Hundreds of endangered bird species such as Black-faced Spoonbills and Red-crowned and White-naped Cranes migrate through the DMZ going to and from Mongolia, China, Russia, Vietnam, Japan, the Philippines and Australia. Despite the relative ecological health of the DMZ, urgent action must be taken to regain the dynamics of a healthy environment everywhere on the peninsula and to protect and preserve habitat for rare, endangered, and threatened native and migratory species. Attaining World Heritage Site status for the DMZ would be a crucial step in that process.

In addition to biodiversity concerns, there are other valuable formations and sites inside the DMZ. Geological features, such as the columnar joint located in the Hantan River near the Imjin River and Cheorwon’s lime rock cave, are worthy of conservation. Furthermore, the DMZ contains numerous historical and archeological treasures that have yet to be explored and preserved for posterity, including Gungye, an ancient capital city near Cheorwon. Important sites from the Choson period exist there,  awaiting study and preservation, as do many battlegrounds and other sites from the Korean War. These, too, need to be examined and preserved for future cultural and historical study.

Only countries that have signed the UNESCO World Heritage Convention pledging to protect their natural and cultural heritage can submit nomination proposals for parts of their territory to be considered for inclusion in UNESCO’s World Heritage List. Both Koreas are members of the World Heritage Convention and since the DMZ is the border between the two countries, a potential WHS must be initiated by the two Koreas together. North Korea already has proposed various sites, including Mt. Kumgang, for WHS designation and South Korea has also put a number of sites, including Mt. Seorak, on its tentative list of WHS. Notably, both Mt. Kumgang and Mt. Seorak are linked through the DMZ, so the whole area will be of outstanding universal value to be shared by the world’s citizens.

By obtaining WHS status for the DMZ, the two Koreas could get training and research assistance, technical cooperation, and promotional and educational support from the World Heritage Centre in conjunction with the WHS Advisory Bodies. Under these auspices, the two Koreas could create a “DMZ International Park.” Such a park would create a contiguous ecological zone across the entire DMZ and re-establish links between Mt. Kumgang and Mt. Seorak—both of which are already national parks in their respective nations. The DMZ International Park would be a profitable and sustainable eco-tourism site attractive to a large number of visitors from around the world, including from the US, China, Russia, Japan, and North and South Korea. The DMZ International Park will be a safe haven for nature and humans because no party would dare to risk losing the economic or political advantages afforded by the park by staging hostile military actions in or near the park. The creation of such a park may also lead to a  multi-lateral agreement to set up a memorial for all the soldiers and civilians who died during the Korean War and to bilateral talks between the two Koreas on the reduction of conventional weapons deployed around the DMZ.

There would be no better way for rebuilding trust among the major players than by agreeing to register the DMZ as a tentative UNESCO World Heritage Site (WHS). But first, there needs to be a paradigm change to break through the current logjam. We need to focus on trust-building measures, including mutual protection of the DMZ’s environmental and cultural treasures. An agreement by the two Koreas to register the DMZ for tentative listing as a UNESCO World Heritage Site status could give the Six-Party states a new paradigm for searching for peace on the Korean peninsula. The US and China should encourage both Koreas to enter into such an agreement, which can be made without incurring political and diplomatic prerequisites and any added military and security concerns. The environmental and cultural preservation of the DMZ will provide an unprecedented opportunity in resolving the military and political deadlock on the Korean peninsula.

The DMZ Forum unreservedly supports World Heritage Site listing for the DMZ. If you endorse or want to know more about this initiative, please send your name and email address to shlee@dmzforum.org.