[선발]ING-영자신문

Plundered Cultural Assets

10621 Lee Minju

  Do you know our plundered cultural assets which have not been returned by other countries? If you aren’t interested about this problem, you might not know it. However, we should notice a value of the plundered cultural assets because the assets are our precious historical legacies. Also, we need to notice our efforts to get the assets back from other countries.

  The number of our stolen cultural assets is estimated at about 160,000, and Japan is the country which has about 42% of our stolen assets. The representative our stolen asset is “Yi-chong”, called ear tomb, made during Japanese Invasion of Korea in 1592. At that time, the Japanese militaries killed the Korean militaries and civilians indiscriminately and cut their ears and nose to be certified that they killed the Koreans and receive a reward of removing the enemies. Yi-chong are scattered all over Japan, and the biggest one is located in Kyoto. It is assumed that about 126,000 ears and noses of Korean might have buried in Japan. Although it seems difficult for us to get the tomb back to Korea because of its height; 9 meters, we should remember the tragic origin of the tomb. Next, ‘Wang-oh-cheon-chuk-guk-jeon’ has not still been returned, but stored in the National Library of France. Wang-oh-cheon-chuk-guk-jeon is the book documented the experiences of traveling India, Centran Asia, and Persia which is present day Iran. It was written during 723 to 727 by Hye-cho, a Silla monk. Unfortunately, the book was stolen at 1908, by French explorer, Paul Perriott, and it has not been brought back to us. Finally, there is ‘Mong-yu-do-won-do’, famous for drawing the paradise that Ahn-gyeon saw while dreaming. It is the only remained work of Ahn-gyeon. Furthermore, we can find the calligraphy of An-pyong, the prince of the Joseon dynasty, who was known for a handwriting. However, it was leaked to Japan someday during the period of Jo-seon and has been owned until the present by the Central Library of Ten-ri University in Japan.

  How to get our plundered cultural assets back? We all need to pay attention to the our stolen assets. If the public take an active interest on the issue, we could overcome a limitation of the return movement proceeded by the government. Also, the government should persuade politely counterparts of government which have the stolen assets. Our government have to emphasize the point that the stolen assets would be much more valuable if they are turned back to their original places. Eventually, we might have the countries take attention to our stolen cultural assets. Finally, it is needed for several private organizations including the government to make an effort of returning our assets continuously and cooperate together. If the organizations, especially a large scale association, struggle to take the assets back to Korea constantly, the assets could get back to us someday.

  Our cultural assets are our important heritages. Although the problems of our stolen cultural assets have still not been solved, we need to know the evident fact that the assets are ours. I hope that the plundered assets are returned to Korea as soon as possible for not only the present generation but also the future generation.