[Oh, Korea-㊶] Korean Cultural Assets Overseas
[Oh, Korea-㊶] Korean Cultural Assets Overseas
  • 김정남(본지 고문, 전 청와대 사회교육문화수석)
  • 승인 2023.06.03 07:30
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By Jeongnam Kim
(Former Senior Presidential Secretary for Education·Culture·Society, World Korean News advisor)

Our interest in the return of our cultural assets overseas has been increasing since some of our books taken by France and Japan from the royal courts of the Chosun dynasty were redeemed in 2011.

It was revealed that on March 1, 2013, Lee Hye-kyung, the granddaughter of King Kojong, the last emperor of the Chosun Dynasty, sent a letter to Japan's Prime Minister Abe, asking him to return the armors and helmets taken by the Japanese during their colonial rule. Prior to this, our Golden Sitting Gwaneum Buddha statute, housed in Gwaneum Temple in Tsushima island, Japan, was smuggled back to Korea in October. 2012, which made banner stories in our media.

The Bureau of Cultural Assets and the National Cultural Assets Research Institute estimate that a total number of 152,910 Korean cultural assets are overseas all over the world, including 66,819 items in Japan, 42,325 items in the U.S., 10,727 items in England, 10792 items in Germany, 8,287 items in China, 4,172 items in Russia, 2,966 items in France, 2,881 items in Taiwan, 2,187 items in Canada, 1,024 items in Kazakhstan, 1511 items in Austria, 1,287 items in Denmark, 298 items in Vatican, 119 items in Switzerland, 56 items in Belgium, 42 items in the Netherland, 41 in Australia, and 17 in Italy. Some of the statistics varies from agency to agency, and it is estimated that the actual number of our cultural assets overseas are much more than the statistics.

The routes through which our cultural assets were transferred overseas are varied. Most of them were plundered during the years of battles and invasions, but some of them were sold, gifted, and not a short list of them were taken away in the form of collections. It is quite appropriate for us to redeem those cultural assets which were plundered or looted, but it is not that simple.

In 1970, the UNESCO adopted a collective agreement, saying that "the cultural assets should be returned to the countries where they were created."

But the "Big 5," the world's five largest museums, including the British Museum. adopted a declaration in 2002, making their position clear that they would not return the plundered cultural assets they keep. They claimed that they serve the humanity as a universal museum.

No more than 9,749 cultural assets have been redeemed since the inauguration of the Republic. Of them, the number of returned assets through negotiations is 3,253 (3,232 items returned through the governmental negotiations; 21 items through civic negotiations). 5,852 items were returned in the form of gift-giving (5,450 items through governmental arrangements; 402 items through civic arrangements), and a total of 643 items were redeemed in the form of purchasing (governmental purchase: 401 items; civic purchase: 242 items).

Besides, the return in the form of a lease include one book of Oegyujang-gak that was redeemed in 1993, an item of the Gyeomje Jeong Sun's book of his painting work collections leased from Germany in 2005, one item, or the Flag of General Oe Jye-yeon leased from the U.S., and 298 books of Oegyujang-gak on lease from France in 2011.

Of the cultural assets overseas, some are national treasures, such as Ahn Gyeon's 'Mongyudowondo.' the superior masterpiece of the Goryeo's Buddhist images titled "Suwol Gwaneumdo." In July, 2012, the government set up the Foundation for the Overseas Cultural Assets with a view to helping redeem our cultural assets overseas, but it is also very much in need for the civilian interest and efforts in this endeavor. In this sense, the contributions made by Gansong Jeon Hyeong-pil and the late Dr. Park Byeong-sun, a bibliographer who use to work in France, look monumental.



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