Two-track approach is needed for cultural assets

Oh Young-chan
The author is a professor of social science education at Ewha Womans University.

Sixty-five museums in major cities across the world — including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the British Museum in London, the Tokyo National Museum, and the Musee Guimet (National Museum of Asian Arts) in Paris — all run permanent sections devoted to ancient Korean art.

The designation of a separate space for Korean heritage by those national museums usually devoted to marking the achievements of major civilizations carries significance. Still, Korean visitors are often disappointed at the relatively scanty sight of the Korean sections when considering their pride over being the world’s 10th largest economy and global enthusiasm over K-pop. The exiguous exhibits that sharply contrast with nearby Chinese or Japanese sections brings chagrin to Korean visitors.

The spacious Chinese section packed with its artifacts in the British Museum also means that a number of Chinese cultural relics got into British hands. Chinese antiquities were channeled across Europe through China’s trade of ceramics since the 17th century and the British colonization of Hong Kong in 1841. To China, the remarkable collections on display at the British Museum cannot be all that pleasing.

The comparative scarcity of Korean collections in the museum could represent a relative dearth of Korean artifacts exposed to imperial Britain due to a lack of human and physical exchanges with the British in the past.

Japan and the United States have the largest share of Korean cultural properties thanks to Japan’s colonization of Korea in the early 20th century and to the U.S.’s active exchanges with Korea in political and economic terms since its liberation in 1945.

The government located 246,304 Korean artifacts across 29 countries as of January. The number could increase upon further study. The call to bring back our own cultural properties is growing as it will certainly help recover our forgotten past, correct distorted history, and redefine our national identity.

We cannot forget our joy at France’s return of Korea’s royal protocol documents on a long-term lease basis in 2011. The Overseas Korean Cultural Heritage Foundation dedicated to locating and bringing back Korean relics from overseas made significant strides.

But not all of our cultural properties can be returned. Unesco defines “theft, looting, and illicit trafficking of cultural property” as a crime and international norms vindicate the return or restitution of the illegal possession of cultural properties. But among overseas holdings, many had gone out through internationally acceptable means and procedures such as in gifts or trade. Such artifacts cannot be returned.

In this case, it is better for our government to publicize Korean culture in their locations. It would be contradicting if you are embarrassed by the meager sight of Korean sections in overseas museums and demand the return of all Korean cultural assets from foreign countries. Instead, the government should help them exhibit the artifacts well. Restitution and utilization of our overseas relics are complementary, not contradicting.

Cultural heritage is a universal language and the source of understanding and sympathy for humanity. Exhibiting cultural assets of other countries and peoples is based on mutual respect and appreciation of cultural diversity. Relics that cannot be returned can fully carry out their role in their current locations. Korean sections in major museums must serve as an opportunity to propagate the excellence of Korean culture.

The Museum of Fine Arts Boston has reportedly agreed to donate “sarira” — small crystals found among the remains of monks — from Korea’s 14th-century Goryeo Dynasty and their reliquary that had been on display in its Korean hall. The museum claims that the silver-gilt sarira container was obtained through legitimate trade. After years of negotiations with the Korean government, the museum agreed to return the sarira and lend the container to Korea. The result underscores the need for diplomatic efforts to bring back cultural assets whose illegality in the procurement is hard to prove. I hope the latest development builds momentum to take a new approach to bringing back our cultural properties overseas.

Translation by the Korea JoongAng Daily staff.