The Korea Times
South Korea is home to 17 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, ranging from 5,000-year-old dolmens (stone tombs) to temples, palaces and even hand-carved Buddhist scripture woodblocks that somehow survived seven centuries without decay. I had the unique opportunity to visit some of the UNESCO sites last year during the 2026 World Heritage Festival, and as the guide talked about some of the temples in Suncheon, South Jeolla Province, and Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, they mentioned how these beautiful places were once raveged by war and only rebuilt sometime later with much effort made to preserve their original states. The nation of South Korea is no stranger to war. To this day, Adm. Yi Sun-sin (1545-98) is celebrated for his 23 consecutive naval victories during the Imjin War (1592-98). However, the admiral’s triumph against Japan not the first thing that comes to mind when "Korea" and "war" are used in the same sentence. The 1950-53 Korean War between the North and South is well known. With the war never really coming to an amicable end, the stench of it still lingers in the air as
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