The OWHC Asia-Pacific Regional Secretariat (OWHC-AP), based in Gyeongju, Republic of Korea, visited high schools in the Gochang and Hwasun County, both of which are World Heritage Cities and the Member Cities of the OWHC, as part of the OWHC-AP Korean Students’ Association from April 5^th to April 6^th to promote the awareness and the value of World Heritage Cities.

Consisting of a short lecture, discussion and quiz on the background story of the concept of the World Heritage, the high school students also learned of the various ways of efforts to preserve and utilize World Heritage. In addition, the students were introduced to the role and activities of international organizations and the importance of intercultural communications. Particularly, students showed keen interest in the upcoming 4^th OWHC-AP Regional Conference and the 2023 OWHC-AP H!GH Heritage Hand-in-Hand Camp. A shower of gifts and souvenirs at the end of each visit heightened the students’ delight with the OWHC-AP and the OWHC.

The OWHC-AP is planning to visit further high and junior high schools across Republic of Korea until the end of this June. Not only will the visits elevate the presence and the importance of the OWHC and the OWHC-AP in the consciousness of the teenagers, the OWHC-AP will encourage those students to participate in the upcoming 2023 OWHC-AP H!GH Heritage Hand-in-Hand Camp to be held alongside the 4^th OWHC-AP Regional Conference in Gyeongju this October. The camp will be a platform comprised of site tours, discussions, and other activities involving teens from the OWHC-AP member cities across the Asia-Pacific region. Mr. Nak-young Joo, the Mayor of Gyeongju, expressed his hope by saying that “I’m looking forward to the day when youths, the future of World Heritage Cities, will walk side by side in Gyeongju, discussing the future of the Cities and themselves.”