Japan the largest holder of overseas Korean relics: agency

SEOUL, Jan. 20 (Yonhap) -- Foreign-owned Korean historic artifacts, including those that were taken away from the country during wars or other moments of crisis in the nation's history, are now mostly located in Japan and in the United States, a cultural heritage agency said Wednesday.

The National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage said it has newly found
31,714 more Korean relics preserved in other countries, bringing the total number
of the country's cultural properties scattered abroad to 107,857.
More than half of the relics, or about 61,000 pieces, are located in Japan, which
is believed to have spirited them away mostly during its six-year invasion of
Korea's Joseon Dynasty in the 16th century and during its colonial occupation of
Korea from 1910 to 1945, the state-run agency said.
Park Dae-nam, a researcher with the heritage institute in charge of cultural
properties, said that although the relics have been located, it is difficult to
retrieve them as their final transfers to museums and collectors are usually done
via complex legal channels.
"When we locate the artifacts, we ask the curator of the museum that is holding
the artifact to write to us how they came to acquire it. In most cases, the
artifacts are said to have been legally purchased or donated," Park said.
The agency said the U.S. holds about 27,000 Korean relics, most of which are
believed to have been transferred by missionaries who streamed into the Joseon
Dynasty in the early 20th century or around the 1950-53 Korean War.
In a recent court ruling that enraged local sentiment, France dismissed a South
Korean civic group's appeal for the return of historic royal texts that were
pillaged by French troops during a 19th-century invasion.
hkim@yna.co.kr
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