Seoul hails return of Korean royal texts from France

(ATTN: CHANGES headline, lead; UPDATES with culture minister's comments)
SEOUL, April 13 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's culture minister on Thursday welcomed the return of ancient Korean royal books from France, 145 years after they were looted during an invasion of a small island west of Seoul.
Following the arrival of the 75 volumes of the looted "Oegyujanggak" books earlier in the day, Minister Choung Byoung-gug said the return is expected to help bring South Korea and France closer together.
"It's been a long and difficult process to retrieve Oegyujanggak," Choung said at a press conference at the National Museum of Korea, which will store the books. "There were large differences in legal systems and public sentiments in South Korea and France. But the return of the Oegyujanggak books was possible thanks to the political determination of the two heads of state to open a new future between the two countries."


Choung said the books will go on display to the public during a special exhibition from July 19 to Sept. 18 at the museum in Seoul. He added the museum will offer an electronic version of these books that will be available online for easy access at home and that it will also support academic research on the texts.
In March this year, Seoul and Paris agreed to the transfer of the royal texts no later than the end of May. The culture ministry here said the texts will arrive in four installments, with the final batch scheduled to be flown in on May 27.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy agreed last November to return the royal books on a renewable lease when he held talks with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak on the sidelines of the Group of 20 Summit in Seoul.
The two countries signed a formal agreement on the matter in February, and the national museums of the two nations came to a consensus in Paris in March.
French troops looted the 297 volumes of the Oegyujanggak books from the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910) in 1866 when they invaded Ganghwa Island for Koreans' persecution of French Catholic missionaries. Oegyujanggak was part of a royal library. The books had since been kept at the National Library of France.
Choung called Oegyujanggak "a proud part of our cultural heritage" that has been recognized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as World Heritage.
"These books should provide an invaluable opportunity for children to study our history," the minister said. "I expect that this would have a positive influence on our efforts to also retrieve our cultural relics that have been taken away from us against our will."
Seoul had long sought to retrieve the Oegyujanggak books, which dictate the protocols of royal ceremonies and rites. One of the books was returned to Korea on a permanent lease basis in 1993 by then-French President Francois Mitterrand, but the other volumes remained in the European nation.