Cultural Assets / KBS뉴스(News)

[Anchor Lead]
Two stone statues dating to the Joseon period that were illegally taken to Germany 36 years ago will be returned to Korea next month. It will be a rare instance of voluntarily returning stolen cultural assets.
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​These statues of civil servants wearing hats and holding documents containing the king's orders were presumably made in the late 16th-early 17th century during the Joseon period. They are currently kept at the Rotherbaum Museum in Hamburg, Germany. Recently the museum said it would send the relics back to Korea, and even held a ceremony to mark their return. The statues were purchased by a German entrepreneur from an antiques dealer in Insa-dong, Seoul in 1983. The museum later bought the relics from the German business person in 1987. But the museum has recently discovered that the statues were hidden in shipping containers and smuggled out of Korea. The museum announced the return of the priceless relics after obtaining approvals from the Hamburg government and the German federal government.
[Soundbite] Barbara Plankensteiner(Curator, Rotherbaum Museum) : "We believe it's our obligation to return to their respective home countries, those items that were acquired illegally."
Some 173,000 pieces of Korean cultural assets are currently kept at overseas museums. It's quite rare for museums in other countries to investigate items that are presumed to have been stolen from Korea and to return them voluntarily.
[Soundbite] Kim Hong-dong(Overseas Korean Cultural Heritage Foundation) : "UNESCO's regulations ban the transfer of illegal items. This is a very rare example of faithfully abiding by the regulations."
The Rotherbaum Museum's gesture will likely raise awareness of the widespread neglect in museums regarding stolen cultural assets.