Ondol Heating System to Vie for Place on World Heritage List

The government plans to have the nation's traditional underfloor heating system, or "ondol," listed as a piece of UNESCO World Cultural Heritage.

"If ondol is added to the list… it will spur the development of the related industry, such as boilers, heat-generating floor panels and pipelines, and their exports," the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said on Sunday.

The ministry plans to build its case by promoting the origin and characteristics of Korea's traditional ondol technology and examining its advantages compared to similar heating systems in other countries. It will also come up with ways to make it more adaptable to the modern world.

"We will carry out a four-month study to lay the groundwork for our project before pushing aggressively to get it added to the UNESCO list as early as the second half of this year," it added.

It is cheaper and more environmentally friendly to use an ondol than rely on radiators, which make the air drier.