President hails shared heritage as gateway to peace in Unesco opening speech

President Lee Jae Myung said Sunday that protecting the world's shared heritage has become one of the few remaining tools for building peace amid deepening global conflict and division, as he opened the 48th session of Unesco's World Heritage Committee in Busan.

The committee, often dubbed the "culture Olympics," has brought together delegations from some 196 countries to review new World Heritage nominations and the conservation status of existing sites through July 29.

Lee tied his argument to independence leader Kim Koo, whose birth 150 years ago is being marked by Unesco this year.

"Decades ago, Baekbeom Kim Koo envisioned a nation that would contribute to humanity not through wealth or power, but through the strength of its culture," Lee said. "He believed that the roots of humanity's suffering lay within the human heart, and that culture offered the surest path to overcoming them."

He linked that to Unesco's own founding declaration that "since wars begin in the minds of men," peace must be built there too, and pointed to Busan itself — the country's wartime capital during the 1950-53 Korean War — as proof international solidarity can remake a nation's fortunes.

That same arc, from aid recipient to aid provider, ran through Lee's courtesy meeting with Unesco Director-General Khaled El-Enany ahead of the ceremony.

"Korea has a very deep bond with Unesco," Lee told El-Enany, crediting the organization's wartime education support for a trajectory "from a nation that received help to one that gives it."

El-Enany called Lee's attendance "a symbolic moment showing Korea's strong support for protecting cultural heritage."

BY SEO JI-EUN   [seo.jieun1@joongang.co.kr]