• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.56 no.2
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• pp.264-279
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• 2023

The 50th anniversary of the UNESCO World Heritage Convention was in 2022. In order to reflect on the present and future of the meaning of World Heritage, this paper examines the development and changes of the UNESCO World Heritage system. After promulgating the convention in 1972, the UNESCO World Heritage system prioritized the protection of heritage sites in the world that were at risk due to armed conflicts and natural disasters to bequeath heritage to the next generation. In addition, the UNESCO World Heritage's emphasis on Outstanding Universal Value represents the particular culture of human beings formed during a certain period of time, and acts as a significant source of soft power in public diplomacy. The UNESCO World Heritage might be perceived as a shared heritage that has not only become a channel to understand various national values, but also an effective medium to convey one of UNESCO's main principles, that is, peacebuilding. However, the UNESCO World Heritage is now at the center of conflicts of heritage interpretation between many stakeholders related to invisible wars, such as cultural wars, memory wars, and history wars as the social, political, and cultural contexts concerning World Heritage have dramatically shifted with the passing of time. Paying attention to such changing contexts, this paper seeks to understand the main developments in UNESCO World Heritage's discourse concerning changes to the World Heritage Operation Guidelines and heritage experts' meetings by dividing its 50-year history into five phases. Next, this paper analyzes the main shifts in keywords related to UNESCO World Heritage through UNESDOC, which is a platform on which all UNESCO publications are available. Finally, this paper discusses three main changes of UNESCO World Heritage: 1) changes in focus in World Heritage inscriptions, 2) changes in perception of World Heritage protection, and 3) changes of view on the role of the stakeholders in World Heritage. It suggests new emerging issues regarding heritage interpretation and ethics, climate change, and human rights.