[MSN] Korea Wants to Get Back Royal Archives

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Korea Wants to Get Back Royal Archives
June 11, 2006 
 

By Park Song-wu
Staff Reporter

South Korea remains unchanged in its position that a collection of royal
texts looted by France 140 years ago should be brought back to Seoul, the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said Saturday. 

``We have to get back the royal documents and that's our policy,'' a Seoul
official said, requesting not to be named. 

Seoul's reconfirmation came after Prime Minister Han Myeong-sook reached an
agreement with her French counterpart Dominique de Villepin in Paris,
Friday, regarding regular exhibition of the texts in South Korea, starting
September.

``We hope that France's proposal to exhibit the royal texts in South Korea
will create an amicable atmosphere for their eventual return,'' the official
said. 

After the agreement in Paris, Korean scholars worried that such exhibitions
could weaken the chance of permanently recovering the 297 royal documents,
which were originally kept in the Choson Kingdom's archive, known as
``Oekyujanggak.''

The Choson dynasty was established in 1392 and lasted for 519 years. 

The documents, outlining court rituals and protocols, were taken by French
naval forces in 1866 from the royal archive on Kanghwa Island, located at
the mouth of the Han River near Inchon. 

They are currently stored at the French National Library in Paris.

In February, South Korea dispatched government officials to Paris to resume
negotiations for return of the documents.

Seoul officially asked Paris to transfer the texts in July 1992, but agreed
to begin negotiation in 1999 in which civilian experts attended on behalf of
the South Korean government. 

The experts managed to reach a preliminary agreement in July 2001, focusing
on France's return of the texts on an exchange basis. But Seoul declined to
accept, fearing negative public sentiment against the measure.

South Koreans think they have the right to repossess the documents as they
were stolen by force. 

But France has been refusing to accept South Korea's request for immediate
return of the ancient documents, saying that it would have to conduct a
comprehensive overhaul of its policies in connection with other cultural
assets it seized from foreign countries. 



im at koreatimes.co.kr