hankyoreh

part of the currency system of the late Joseon dynasty

The Cultural Heritage Administration (CHA) was recently notified by the U.S. embassy in South Korea that more than 130 artifacts assumed to be from the Joseon dynasty went up for sale at an antique auction in Oxford, Michigan in April this year. The artifacts were introduced as having been “brought back from Deoksugung, Seoul, in 1951.” A U.S. soldier reportedly took the items from the grounds of Seoul’s Deoksugung Palace during the Korean War. Most of the items up for auction are accessories, ceramics and furniture, but the collection also includes artifacts of high historical value such as blocks from which banknotes were printed at the end of the Joseon dynasty and the beginning of the Great Han Empire. Therefore, if it is confirmed that they were illegally removed from Korea, a diplomatic dispute over their return appears likely.

It has been confirmed that CHA recently offered its opinion on the matter to the U.S. embassy in South Korea, after meeting with experts in late April and appraising photographs of the items in the auction catalog. Park Yeong-geun, head of the CHA’s Heritage Promotion Bureau, stated that in CHA’s judgment, the collection consisted mainly of crafted items from the time of Qing China and was therefore not of high value, but that it also contained certain artifacts worth getting back. He said the CHA had offered to inspect the artifacts at their current location, if necessary. The U.S. government has never before asked the South Korean government to appraise auctioned artifacts on American soil. This is also the first time CHA has assembled the appraisal opinions of experts and conveyed them to an external organization.

An examination of the website of the auction house involved yielded an explanation attached to the items which stated that they had been brought out of the grounds of Deoksugung by Lionel Hayes, an officer in the U.S. Marines, following the dislodging of North Korean and Chinese troops. South Korean experts that have analyzed photos of the artifacts say that one of them is of a printing block for 10-nyang Hojo Taehwangwon notes, part of the currency system of the late Joseon dynasty. Hardly any of these remain, meaning that the block is of high historical value.

A considerable number of the artifacts have already been sold. The Hojo Taehwangwon printing block has been purchased by a Korean-American collector and has appeared in Korean-American media. One expert who took part in the appraisals stressed the need for South Korean experts to value the items and determine the exact circumstances behind their removal from South Korea and appearance at auction, in order to determine whether they really came from Deoksugung. The U.S. embassy in South Korea, meanwhile, said that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement arm of the Department of Homeland Security and the South Korean embassy in the United States have launched a joint investigation, and that it could give no further details.

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