The decision is set to be made at the committee's latest session, currently underway in Paris this week, with South Korea as the sole candidate. With no other countries in the bid, the country appears almost certain to host the event.
Once Busan is selected as the venue for the international gathering, which brings together over 3,000 participants from nearly 200 countries, it would be the first time the event takes place in the country since the committee's inaugural meeting in Paris in 1977, followed by other Asian cities such as Phuket, Thailand in 1994, Kyoto, Japan in 1998, Suzhou, China in 2004, and Phnom Penh and Siem Reap-Angkor in Cambodia in 2013.
The committee is composed of 21 of the international body's 190 member nations, which vote on the selection and preservation of World Heritage sites and assets recognized for their natural and cultural significance, as they are deemed "so exceptional as to transcend national boundaries and to be of common importance for present and future generations of all humanity."
Meanwhile, petroglyphs carved into rocks and cliffs by local inhabitants along the Bangucheon Stream in the southeastern city of Ulsan, showing traces of prehistoric eras, were listed last week as the country's latest World Heritage site.
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