France to Return Plundered Documents

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France to Return Plundered Documents

President Kim Dae-jung and President Jacques Chirac of France agreed Thursday on the return of the medieval royal Korean documents known as "Oekyujanggak" by the end of 2001.

The agreement was reached at a meeting at the Blue House, said a presidential spokesman, Park Joon-young.

Mr. Park said that South Korean and French officials will meet next month to discuss details. No site of the talks was made public.

The Oekyujanggak is the royal library of Korea's Choson Dynasty (1392-1910). It was plundered in 1866 by the French military in retaliation for the deaths of nine French Catholic priests in Korea. The French have 297 books, including royal court records.

The return of the documents was first proposed in 1991 by a university professor and then officially brought up by former President Kim Young-sam in 1993 to his counterpart, Francois Mitterrand.

Mr. Kim and Mr. Mitterrand agreed in principle to review the return of the documents, but official negotiations between the two countries began only last year.

Critics charged at the time that the 1993 agreement between Mr. Kim and Mr. Mitterrand was part of France's diplomatic maneuvering to win the high-speed railway project linking Seoul and Pusan. French companies did win the contract.

According to the agreement reached Thursday, after France returns the 297 books, South Korea will lend cultural assets to France, Mr. Park said. Those assets were not specified.

During the meeting, President Kim thanked President Chirac for his support of efforts for Korean peace. Mr. Kim also appealed for France to facilitate North Korea's efforts at normalization with European Union countries. France currently chairs the European Union.

Mr. Kim and Mr. Chirac also agreed that South Korean companies will participate in projects involving the French bullet train, the TGV, in third countries, such as the Beijing-Shanghai line.

In addition, Mr. Chirac said that France would like to participate in such planned construction as a bridge between Pusan and Koje Island in the southern part of the nation.

The two leaders also discussed French companies' participation in South Korea's next-generation submarine and fighter projects.

Mr. Kim also met with other leaders in Seoul to attend the third Asia-Europe Meeting, which officially begins Friday: the Danish prime minister, Poul Nyrup Rasmussen; the Finnish president, Tarja Halonen; the British prime minister, Tony Blair, and the Malaysian prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad.

Mr. Kim, who is chairman for the Seoul ASEM, was initially scheduled to meet with four heads of governments. But four increased to 14 after Mr. Kim won the Nobel Peace Prize.


by Kim Jin-kook

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