BY YOSHIHIRO MAKINO
THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
2010/07/29
South Korea's foreign minister, Yu Myung-hwan, broke the ice on a sensitive issue by urging Japan to bypass a legal agreement and make a move that would benefit both Tokyo and Seoul.
"This year is a delicate one because it marks the centenary of Japan's annexation of the Korean Peninsula," Yu told Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada at a hotel in Gyeongju, southern South Korea, on May 16. "That is why we should make this year a good opportunity to strengthen bilateral ties."
Yu was referring to growing calls in South Korea for Japan to return the Royal Protocols of the Joseon Dynasty and other cultural properties apparently taken during Japan's 1910-1945 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.
The royal protocols, a collection of documents written between the 15th century and 19th century on major rituals and ceremonies of the royal family, are considered one of the cultural centerpieces of the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910).
Okada's response was not what Yu had hoped for. Okada merely said Japan is aware of what South Korea desires.
These desires show no signs of abating.
The South Korean public has increasingly demanded the return of the royal protocols believed to have been seized by Japan's Government-General of Korea, which was in charge of the colonial rule of the peninsula, and transferred in 1922 to what is now the Imperial Household Agency.
South Korean citizens groups have been seeking the handover of the items since four years ago. In December 2006, the South Korean national assembly passed a resolution calling for the return of the cultural properties.
With public opinion growing, South Korea appears desperate to make progress on the issue on the 100th anniversary of the annexation.
Japan's Foreign Ministry and the Imperial Household Agency have discussed whether the royal protocols and other articles can be returned to South Korea. But Tokyo maintains that the issue has been legally settled.
When Japan and South Korea normalized relations in 1965, the two countries also signed an agreement on cultural properties and cultural cooperation.
Under the agreement, Japan in 1966 returned about 1,300 pieces of cultural properties originating from the Korean Peninsula that were held by the Japanese government.
Concerns persist in the Japanese government that Seoul's requests could become endless if Tokyo agrees to return the royal protocols.
Seoul has been unable to make an official request to Japan because of the 1965 agreement.
But unofficially, Seoul has been pleading with Japan by referring to South Korean "public opinion."
A key figure in the South Korean public's drive to bring home the royal protocols is Hyemoon, a 37-year-old monk.
On Friday, Hyemoon showed up in Tokyo's Nagatacho district to submit a petition to Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku. The petition seeks the prompt return of the royal protocols to mark the 100th anniversary of Japan's annexation of the Korean Peninsula.
Hyemoon and others argue that when the 1965 agreement was signed, the whereabouts of the royal protocols and some other cultural properties held by the Japanese government were not known.
The existence of the royal protocols was confirmed after the University of Tokyo presented to Seoul National University 47 volumes of the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty in July 2006, right after Hyemoon started the restitution drive.
Two months later, he formed a council and started traveling around the world for the cause.
He went to UNESCO's headquarters in Paris to appeal the significance of the issue and discussed the matter with Japanese Foreign Ministry officials in Tokyo.
And in South Korea, he lobbied members of the national assembly to adopt the resolution for the return of the cultural properties.
"Without him, the movement could not hold," said a South Korean government official.
Together with articles returned in 1958, Japan handed over 1,432 items, including works of art, archaeological objects and books held by the Japanese government. Seoul, however, had called for the return of 4,479 items.
Since the 1990s, at least 2,500 other cultural properties have been returned to the Korean Peninsula on 17 occasions, helping to improve bilateral ties.
Some items were returned to South Korea after considerable prodding from citizens groups, like those led by Hyemoon and his supporters.
The South Korean government designated the volumes of the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty a national treasure immediately after they were presented to Seoul National University.
Lee Sang-chan, professor of Korean history at Seoul National University, called the gesture of the University of Tokyo heartening.
"Some people in Japan think it is right for those properties to be returned to South Korea," he said. "We can remain very hopeful about the future of bilateral relations."
But the issue may never be entirely settled given the huge number of cultural articles that have changed hands.
According to South Korea's National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage, the number of such items is at least 61,409, mostly documents, Buddhist statues, china and porcelain kept at 250 locations in Japan. Some are kept at 57 public and private facilities, including national museums and universities, and at 145 temples and shrines.
If the items in the possession of individuals are included, the total is estimated to exceed 300,000.
The numbers, however, do not daunt Hyemoon.
"Returning cultural properties to where they originally belonged will clear your conscience," he said.
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